i 



Ife 



■■:•■■& f' 



Ml 



sVp| 




|^)0| 


I 

9 


i ■!/-% (JB 


Mi 


iWcy'cl 


B 


WL^^^ - m 


1> 




m 




IS 




I 1H 


Bt^J / £jf 


I- H 






iiiiH 






■h 









LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap, Copyright JS r o. _. 

8helf.____._" 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ti 



Bible Ibomes anb ^families. 




Gift from Heavfn 



BIBLE HOMES 

AND FAMILIES 



OPENING UP THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS 
THE KEY TO THE WHOLE BIBLE 



BY 

JENNIE ANDERSON PIERSON 



INTRODUCTION BY 
ROBERT J. BURDETTE 



CHICAGO: 

JOHN W. ILIFF AND COMPANY, 

1900. 



76966 



-6^ 



-S^ s 



^?S5 



Library of Congress 

Two Copies Received I 
NOV 171900 | 

Copyright entry 

SECOND COPY 

DeHvorw if 

ORDLH DIV.5ION 

NOV 19 19U0 



No 



COPYRIGHT 1900 

BY JENNIE ANDERSON PIERSON 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 



Cfyis book is louirtgly irtscribeb to tfye memory of my bear IHotfyer 
(now "rtumbereb unify tfyy saints, in glory eperlasting/'), rofyose cfyilb= 
like faitfy fyas blesseb me all tfye bays of my life. 

3ennie Ctnberson Pierson. 



preface. 



HE purpose of this book is to group Bible characters and 
scenes before its readers, and to open up to them the book 
of beginnings, the key to the whole Bible. The home and 
the family, with all that emanates from them, marriage, life, death, 
sin, sacrifice, worship, nations and races are here portrayed. 

Most people can tell the story of a sacred character, here and 
there, or of scattered incidents of Bible history, but with the Bible, 
as a whole, and the relation of one family to another, they are un- 
familiar. 

It is my earnest desire that the perusal of this book may in- 
crease our reverence for the home, warn us of our responsibility in 
the institution of the family, and be helpful to the children of our 
Father's great family everywhere. 

Each statement herein made is founded upon the word of God. 
Instead of giving references, I have written quotations in full, that 
my readers may have before them my authority. 

I have prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and, as I 
have studied and written, mine eyes have been opened, and I have 
beheld "wondrous things out of thy law/' 

I have consulted no helps save Brown's Family Bible, and the 



14 PREFACE. 

S. S. edition of the Holy Bible, with concordance, as printed at the 
University Press, Oxford. To these I wish to acknowledge my in- 
debtedness. 

THE AUTHOR. 



"Oh, teach me, Lord, that I may teach 
The precious things Thou dost impart ;- 
And wing my words, that they may reach 
The hidden depths of many a heart. 

Oh, give Thine own sweet rest to me, 
That I may speak with soothing power 

A word in season, as from Thee, 
To weary ones in needful hour. 

Oh, fill me with Thy fullness, Lord, 
Until my very heart o'erflow 
In kindling thought and glowing word, 
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show." 



Untrobuction. 



Small wonder that the Home-love glows like a celestial fire in 
human hearts when it dates back to Eden when the stars frescoed 
the blue dome that canopied the bower which the first man and 
woman called home. Small wonder that the best-known song in the 
world should be a song of home that first sang itself in the longing- 
heart of a homeless man. So often it is, that out of the byways of 
sorrow, in the loneliness of troubled and grief -burdened lives, break 
forth the songs with souls, the stories that are eternal. So Milton 
sang the glories of light, when the glowing splendor of midday and 
the rayless mystery of midnight were alike to his sightless eyes. So, 
John Bunyan, looking from his den in the prison of old Bedford 
town, saw the busy city of Destruction, with its crowded marts and 
its careless men; he saw the flying Christian, crying "Life — Life — 
Eternal Life!" He saw the dismal Slough and the distant shining 
wicket gate; he saw the hill of Difficulty and the House Beautiful, 
with its wonders of revelation; he saw the valley of Humiliation 
and watched the terrible battle with Apollyon; he saw the silent, 
darkly flowing river, and caught glimpses of the gleams of glory 
that streamed from the opening gates beyond that Jordan. And all 
that his free soul saw, his chained hand penned on pages that can 
never fade. And so, too, when the world asked for a song of home, 
it waited through the ages, and the centuries, and the years, until 
there came to sing it for all home-loving hearts, a man without a 
home. The pathetic numbers that welled up like sobs of homesick- 
ness in the longing heart of Payne, closing his eyes upon the twilight 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

of his pilgrimage among strangers, and in a foreign land, will 
awaken tender and sympathetic responses in the sonls of men and 
women so long as they build homes for themselves. Only in the life 
of a homeless man, in the soul of a wanderer could such a love- 
song find birth and voice. He longed for home until his very life 
breathed itself into the passionate yearning. He dreamed, and his 
dreaming painted for him a picture of all that was fair, and pure, 
loving and beautiful, and this oasis in the wilderness of his life 
he called a home. And always, in every time and every land, when 
the singer sings of home, men will listen, with tender eyes and loving 

hearts. 

—ROBERT J. BURDETTE. 



Uable of Contents, 



CHAPTER I. 



Page 



- 



God's Preparation For Man's First Home , 23 

CHAPTER II. 
The Home in the Garden 31 

CHAPTER III. 
The First Family 39 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Home in the Ark 59 

CHAPTER V. 
The Home in the Tent 73 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Home in Canaan 105 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Home of the Shepherd 129 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Home in Egypt 159 



5Lt8t of Ullustrations. 



Page. 

Gift from Heaven. Frontispiece 

Creation — First and Second Days 22 

Creation — Third and Fourth Days 20 

Creation — Fifth and Sixth Days 30 

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden 38 

Adam and Eve Driven From Paradise 48 

The Murder of Abel 52 

Noah and His Family Entering the Ark 58 

The Flood Destroying the Earth 64 

Abraham Departing From Haran 72 

The Separation of Abram and Lot 78 

Map of Genesis 80 

Abimelech Restoring Sarah to Abraham 90 

Abraham Sending Away Hagar and Ishmael 94 

Abraham Offering Up Isaac 100 

Canaan in the Patriarchal Ages 104 

Abraham's Servant and Rebecca at the Well 110 

Esau Selling His Birthright For Pottage 116 

Jacob Obtaining the Blessing From Issac 122 

Jacob's Vision of the Angels 128 

Jacob Wrestling With the Angel 138 

Meeting of Esau and Jacob 142 

Joseph Sold By His Brethren 150 

Jacob Mourning the Loss of Joseph 154 

Jacob's Arrival in Egypt 158 

Joseph Interpreting Pharaoh's Dreams . 164 

Jacob's Sons Imprisoned By Joseph As Spies 168 

Joseph Becoming Known to His Brethren 176 

Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph 182 



(Bob's preparation for flfcan's 
jftrst Ibome. 



Bible Ibomes anb families . 



CHAPTER I. 

(Sob's Preparation for ^Hart's ^jtrst fiomc. 

f"\ URING six long periods of time, which God calls days, He 

1 was busy creating and preparing the earth for man's first 
I / home. 
4**^ "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 

This first creation was simply a mass of earth, covered by water; 
a great deep, "without form, and void;" that is, shapeless, bare, 
empty and dark, until the spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, moved 
upon the face of the waters. This manifestation, or presence of the 
third person in the Trinity, brought the light, which God com- 
manded "to shine out of darkness." "God is light and in him is no 
darkness at all." 

This light of God He called day; "The day is thine, the night 
also is thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun." 

The withdrawal of this light caused the darkness, which God 
called night. 

The sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth 
period of time; and this light of God was the same as that which 
Isaiah tells us shall be ours again, when we need no more the light 
of the sun and the moon. 

"I form the light and create darkness." 

You remember when Moses came doAvn from Mount Sinai, 
with the tables of stone, where he had been forty days and nights 
with God; how his face shone, so that the children of Israel were 
afraid to come near him. "God is light." And as Jesus is now the 
light of the spiritual world, so God was then the light of the mate- 
rial world ; and I believe is the source of all light. 

23 



24 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

How long this first day and night lasted we do not know, but 
the earth bears record that it was thousands of years. 

In His own good time God appeared upon the earth again, and 
created the firmament or sky. He also divided the waters which 
were under the sky from those above it; and He called this firma- 
ment, or expansion of air, heaven. Job says "He bindeth up the 
waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them." 

During the long night which followed this period, the earth was 
still covered with water, like one vast ocean, over which was now 
suspended the beautiful sky which God had created in the second 
day. But in the third day, when God's presence again shone out 
of darkness, He called the waters on the earth together into one 
place. a He shut up the sea with doors." He said, "Hitherto shalt 
thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be 
stayed." "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering 
together of the waters called He Seas." "The sea, is His and He 
made it, and His hands formed the dry land." 

Now our earth was all barren and brown. Just picture to your- 
self, if you can, how desolate everything must have looked, during 
this third day or interval of time, in which God was preparing for 
man this home; no green grass, or herbs, no trees or fruit or flow- 
ers, no living thing; just one vast stretch of earth and air and sky. 
Yet God was well pleased with the progress of His work, for we 
are told at this time that God saw "that it was good." 

But behold, now, how the scene was changed! God spoke, and 
the earth was covered with grass. He created "every plant of the 
field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it 
grew." That is, there were no seeds planted; nothing from which 
vegetation could grow. For the Lord God had not caused it to 
rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." 
Thus you see every variety of herb and tree was created perfect in 
itself, "the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after 
its kind," and the seed of each was there, that the plant might be 
propagated throughout all the future. Now as the earth stood per- 
fect before the Lord, covered with grass, and every variety of plant 






'And the earth brought forth grass." 



"And God said. Let there be lights to divide 
the day from the night." 



GOD'S PREPARATION FOR MAX'S FIRST HOME. 27 

and herb and tree, "there went up a mist from the earth, and 
watered the whole face of the ground." 

Thus ended the third day. 

The fourth day dawned, as had the others, with no sun in the 
sky. But now all plant life, as it stood, needed the solar system, 
with which we are familiar; the regular rotation of "seed-time and 
harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and 
night." As yet there had been no growth; for God had not pro- 
vided for it. The vegetable world stood complete in itself, ready 
for the next step in creation. "And God said, Let there be lights in 
the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and 
let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years. 
. . . And God made two great lights, the greater light (or sun) 
to rule the day and the lesser light (or moon) to rule the night; he 
made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the 
heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day, and 
over the night, and'to divide the night from the darkness. . . . 
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." You see 
this day and night, measured by God's presence or absence, had 
nothing whatever to do with the day of twenty-four hours, which 
He instituted during this fourth visit to the earth. 

As yet no living thing had appeared upon the earth. There 
were the wood-covered hills with their purpling shadows; there 
were green pastures and still waters, mighty forests of oak and 
pine, deep glens and pleasant valleys and towering mountains, 
great orchards filled with luscious fruits, and beautiful gardens of 
fairest flowers; all overhung with light, fleecy clouds of rarest tints. 
But, O the loneliness of it all ! Earth, air and water were void of 
life. But now God spoke, and sky and water were inhabited by the 
creatures for which He had prepared them. First the waters 
brought forth abundantly, swimming creatures and fowl, that is, 
fish and birds, to live in the water, and to fly in the sky. "And God 
created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which 
the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every 
winded fowl after his kind." And God commanded them to be 



28 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

fruitful and fill the seas, and the fowl to multiply in the earth. 
"And the evening and the morning were the fifth day." 

In the sixth and last period, God made the cattle and beasts, 
and everything that creepeth upon the earth. Last of all, he 
created man in his own image, forming him of the dust of the 
ground, and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. Thus 
man became a living soul. These words explain all the wonders 
pertaining to man; the distinction between him and all other life. 
"The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty 
hath given me life." Unlike all other life, man is a part of the 
breath of God. He was the crowning work of God's creation, 
and to him God gave dominion "over the fish of the sea, and over the 
fowl of the air," over the cattle and over everything that creepeth 
upon the earth, and over all the earth, to subdue it. "And God 
said, 'Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon 
the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a 
tree ; to you it shall be for meat.' " "Thou hast made man a little 
lower than the angels, and has crowned him with glory and honor." 
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." 

Thus you see that all the work which God had done, in the cre- 
ation and preparation of this earth, was that it might be a fit and 
beautiful and comfortable home for man. 

Look abroad over this 

"Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world, 
With the wonderful water around it curled, 
And the wonderful grass upon its breast," — 

and you will gain a faint idea of God's love for man. O, that man 
had measured up to this mighty love! 



Zhe Ibome in tbe (3ar6en. 




"And God said, let the waters bring forth 
abundantly." 




"And God said. Let us make man in our image 
and let him have dominion over all the earth." 



CHAPTER II. 

Cfye ^ome in tfye (5arben. 

THE sweet idea of home, as we know and love it, came to us 
from God Himself, and was a part of that first Adam, which 
name means, the man. Immediately upon his creation, we 
are told, that in earth's fairest spot, eastward in Eden, the 
Lord God planted a garden, and there he put the man whom 
he had formed. 

How pleasant must have been the planning and the planting of 
that fair old garden. Where no weeds, no rank growth, no decay; 
could mar or destroy its beauty. Where sin had not yet entered in, 
and where "out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every 
tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." There in its 
perfection grew the fig tree; and Ezekiel tells us of the cedars, the 
fir trees and the chestnut trees in the garden of God. And in 
another place he describes the cedar: "It shall bring forth 
boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar; and under it shall 
dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof 
shall they dwell." And the following description of Ezekiel we 
may apply to the other trees of Eden. "By the river upon the bank 
thereof shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade; 
neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed." Daniel tells us also 
of a tree "whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and 
on it was meat for all; the beasts of the field had shadow under 
it, and the fowls of the air dwelt in the branches thereof." We 
know by name two wonderful trees that God planted in Eden: 
"The tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil." 

Although these trees are the only ones mentioned by name as 
being in Eden, yet, as we are told that God planted there "every tree 
that was good for food and pleasant to sight," we may, in imagina- 
tion, call to mind the beautiful descriptions in the Songs of Solo- 
mon and apply them to the garden of Eden. Even then we shall 

31 



32 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

come far short of the reality. O Eden, "thy plants are an orchard of 
pomegranates, with pleasant fruits, cypress with spikenard, and 
saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, 
myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices. A fountain of gardens, 
a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon." 

"Awake, O north wind; and come thou south; blow upon my 
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." 

Think of the luxuriance and beauty of tropical gardens, bereft 
of the intense heat, and the usual, disagreeable accompaniments of 
venomous animal life! 

"There the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, the vines with 
the tender grape give a good smell; and there are apple trees 
among the trees of the wood." 

The apple tree of Palestine is described: As affording a 
grateful shade, its fruit was enticing to the eye and sweet to the 
taste. It imparted fragrance and was of a golden color, amid sil- 
very leaves. 

By the water-courses of Eden, the sweet bay-tree spread itself, 
and the drooping willow grew up out of the river with the bul- 
rushes and the flags. 

There were found great forests of balm, box, ash and gopher; 
the last named being the wood used in the construction of the ark. 
There were also hemlock, hazel, walnut, oak, poplar, pine, elm and 
ebony trees; and orchards of almond, anise, apple, olive and pome- 
granates, with oil-trees and grape-vines. 

Besides these were the spice-gardens in which were the cinna- 
mon trees ; described as growing thirty feet high, with long, lance- 
shaped leaves, and white blossoms. 

Among the flowers were the historic rose of Sharon, and the lily 
of the valley. What a rich and well favored land it was, for "a 
river went out of Eden to water the garden." You see, the garden 
did not comprise the whole land of Eden; it was planted there; 
and this river that rose in Eden was parted into four heads, which 
flowed around Paradise, one on each side of it. They were Pison, 
Gihon, Hiddekel and Euphrates, Moses compares the plain of 
Jordan to Eden, saying of it, "It was well watered everywhere, 



THE HOME IN THE GARDEN. 33 

even as the garden of the Lord." Eden was rich also in gold and 
precious stones, for in this second chapter of Genesis, Moses says 
of the river Pison, the first boundary of the garden, "that is it 
which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, 
and the gold of that land is good;" there is beryl and the onyx 
stone. 

Ezekiel, speaking of the beauty and wisdom of the King of Ty- 
rus says: "Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every pre- 
cious stone was thy covering, the ruby, topaz and the diamond, the 
beryl, the onyx and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald and the 
carbuncle and gold." Thus you see that the foundations of this gar- 
den, like those of that other Paradise, whose gates, we pray, may 
not be closed against us, were garnished with all manner of 
precious stones; that it contained also the tree of life, and that in 
it there w T as, as yet, no sin and no death. 

And the four rivers which flowed around the garden remind one 
of "the river of water of life, pure as crystal." To continue the 
description of these rivers — the second boundary of this fair and 
spacious garden, the river Gihon compassed the whole land of 
Ethiopia. Hiddekel, the third river, went toward the east of As- 
syria, and the fourth border, the river Euphrates, sometimes called 
"the Flood," was the river which Abraham crossed to enter 
Canaan, the promised land. 

God gave this garden with everything it contained to Adam, 
placing upon him only one restriction. "And the Lord God com- 
manded the man saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest 
freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou 
shalt not eat of it, for in the clay that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 
surely die;" that is, be a dying man. As yet it was his privilege 
to eat of the tree of life, that he might never know death. 

Adam was placed in the garden to dress it and to keep it; that 
is, to enjoy his home; not to till the ground; not to weed it; thorns 
and thistles were not yet known. There was nothing to offend the 
eye. He was simply to do w T hat pleased him, in the way of arrang- 
ing, trimming and training; to be thoroughly at home in the gar- 
den, with its flowing waters, its choice fruit and flowers, its glitter- 



34 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

ing gold and sparkling stones. Adam was to name the beautiful 
fish that filled the waters, and to the wonderful birds of Paradise, 
with their gay plumage, he gave their names. "And God brought 
all the animals unto Adam, and whatsoever he called every living 
creature that was the name thereof." 

Among the animals which Adam named were "The lion, which 
is strongest of beasts and turneth not away for any." 
The greyhound and the goat also. 

The fallow deer with its red or brown coat; and "the swift 
dromedary, traversing her ways," 

The scarlet-coated goat, and the wild goat, whose flesh was the 
venison which Esau brought to his old father Isaac. There was the 
timid, fleet-footed hart, to which King David makes such beautiful 
reference. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so pant- 
eth my soul after thee, O God." 

Then there was also the "loving hind and the pleasant roe." 

Think you not that many, many happy hours could be spent 
with these innocent companions? 

In the song of Deborah are these words: "Speak ye that ride on 
white asses." Seven thousand of these returned with the captives 
from Babylon. So they were first in Eden. In the garden were 
also the bear and the roe buck, the camels and the chamois, and the 
flocks of sheep. 

Also the tiny creatures of which Solomon speaks: "The conies 
are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks," 

"The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by 
bands," 

"The spider taketh hold with her hands and is in kings' pal- 



aces." 



"The ants are a people not wise, yet prepare they their meat in 



summer." 



These are only a few of all those that God brought into the gar- 
den for Adam to name, but in order to consider wisely the beauty and 
loveliness of this animal kingdom, we must not forget that its char- 
acter was such as is described by Isaiah, "The wolf also shall dwell 
with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the 



THE HOME IN THE GARDEN. 35 

calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child 
shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their voun<r 
ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the 
ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and 
the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They 
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth 
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea." 

Among the winged creatures were the gentle dove, the raven 
and the crowing cock, the cormorant, the crane and the crow, the 
cuckoo, the eagle, the hawk and the sea fowl. 

There were also the keen-sighted kite, the crested thrush, the 
magnificent ossifrage, and the partridge. 

No doubt Father Adam admired the many colored peacock, 
and the pelican with its rushing plumes. Perhaps Father Adam 
listened many times to the whistling quail and the sweet-voiced 
swallow, or watched the black storks building their nests in the fir 
trees, or the graceful swans floating on the placid waters. The 
quiet pigeon, the loving turtledove, and the vulture were also in 
the garden, for in this beautiful home there was plenty of room 
and sustenance for all. But, as yet, there was not found an help- 
meet for Adam. 



Zhe jfirst jfamil^. 



CHAPTER III. 

tEEje ^trst family. 

o| ND THE Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, 
IV and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the 
£ I flesh instead thereof." 

V-» "And the rib which the Lord God had taken from 
man, made (or builded) he a woman, and brought her unto 
the man." "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and 
obtaineth favor of the Lord." Adam was well pleased with the 
woman, and claimed her at once as a part of his own body, saying: 
"This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be 
called Woman, because she was taken out of man." 

Let us remember that "The man is not of the woman, but the 
woman of the man." "Neither was the man created for the woman, 
but the woman for the man." 

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and 
shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh." 

Thus was instituted the sacred ordinance of marriage, which 
St. Paul says is honorable in all, and our marriage sendee says is 
not to be entered into lightly or unadvisedly, but soberly, discreet- 
ly, and in the fear of God. 

You remember that after Adam had named every living crea- 
ture, "there was not found an helpmeet for him," therefore was 
the woman made. 

Let us see if she became to him the help which the Lord de- 
signed she should be. 

Adam and his wife are now at home in the garden. We do not 
know that the Lord told the woman of the one tree whose fruit 
was forbidden, but it is supposed that Adam made her acquainted 
with the fact, for very soon she had occasion to use this knowledge. 
How soon this was we do not know. It may have been weeks or 
months, but of what intervened we have no knowledge. We can- 
not but hope that Adam and his wife had some happy days in the 

39 



40 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

garden, and that the love songs written by Solomon, and typical 
of the mntnal love of Christ and His church, are descriptive also of 
the love of our first parents; that first and only pure love known 
upon the earth, before sin had left its blight upon everything. 

Ctbam to (Et>e. 

. "Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold thou art fair; thou hast 

doves' eyes within thy locks; thy hair is as a flock of goats 

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came 
up from the washing; whereof every one bare twins, and none are 
barren among them. 

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet; and thy speech is comely; 
thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks. . . . 

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which 
feed among the lilies. 

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me 
to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. 

Thou art all fair, my love ; there is no spot in thee. .... 

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast 
ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy 
neck. 

How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better 
is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all 
spices! 

Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb ; honey and milk 
are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the 
smell of Lebanon. 

A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up; a 
garden sealed 

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gath- 
ered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb, with 
my honey ; I have drunk my wine with my milk, O beloved. ...... 

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, 
and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates 
budded. 



THE FIRST FAMILY. 41 

How beautiful are thy feet, thine head upon thee is like Carmel, 
and the hair of thy head like purple 

How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love for delights. 

This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts like clus- 
ters of grapes, the smell of thy nose like apples, and the roof of thy 
mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, 
causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. 

I am my beloved's, and her desire is toward me. 

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; 

let us get up early to the A T ineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, 
whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth ; 
there will I give thee my loves. 

The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner 
of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O 
my beloved." 

(£r>e's Song to Ctbam. 

"As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my be- 
loved among the sons, I sat down under his shadow with great de- 
light, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over 
me was love 

The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the 
mountains, skipping upon the hills. 

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart, behold he standeth 
behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself 
through the lattice. 

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair 
one, and come away. 

For lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. 

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of 
birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. 

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the 
tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and 
come away. 

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, let 



42 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy 
voice, and thy countenance is comely 

My beloved is mine, and I am his ; he feedeth among the lilies. 

Until the day break and the shadows flee away, turn, my be- 
loved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the moun- 
tains. • • • • . 

. . . I sleep, but my heart waketh; it is the voice of my 
beloved that knocketh, saying, 'Open to me, my sister, my love, my 
dove, my undefiled ; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks 
with the drops of the night.' 

I rose to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with 
myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles 
of the lock 

My beloved is white and ruddy, his head is as the most fine 
gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. 

His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, 
washed with milk, and fitly set. 

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like 
lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. 

His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl; his belly is as 
bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 

His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; 
his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars, 

His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is 
my beloved, and this is my friend." 

How fittingly these beautiful songs of Solomon portray to us 
the joyous and innocent natures of Adam and Eve, as they were 
before their fall. 

Alas, that the scene should be so soon changed. 

In order to understand how anything but good could be in 
Eden, the home which God had created, we must remember 
the words of St. John: "And there was war in heaven; Michael 
and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought, 
and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found 
any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old 
serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole 



THE FIRST FAMILY. 43 

world; he was cast out into the earth." So though we may wonder 
much, and never know how evil came to be in heaven, its presence 
here on the earth is fully explained to us. 

The old, old struggle for the ascendancy between good and evil 
was waged first in heaven. Thank God that Michael and his an- 
gels prevailed there, and that that old serpent called the Devil 
and Satan was cast out into the earth, where the war began 
again. 

Thus is explained to us the mystery of Evil. There is no doubt 
about it, that morality comes with the coming of choice. Thus it 
was necessary that Adam and Eve should choose between obedi- 
ence and disobedience, for until they were tried and had resisted 
they were innocent, but not good; but it was not necessary that 
they should choose evil. 

Had humanity been victorious, in the struggle here, Satan 
would have been banished from earth, as he was from heaven. 
Immortality would have been won, and the whole earth would have 
been as Eden. 

That God regretted that the eyes of our first parents were 
opened to know good and evil is told to us most forcibly in His 
question to Eve: "What is this that thou has done?" 

Do you wonder that as God looked down the ages, and saw the 
sin and suffering which this victory of the dragon's was to bring 
upon the children of Eve, that "he repented that he had made 
man on the earth, and that it grieved him at his heart?" 

We are told by St. John in Revelation that the dragon was 
wroth with the woman, which explains why he went into the gar- 
den, where he first appeared to Eve, in the form of a serpent, and 
tempted her thus : 'Yea, because God hath forbidden you, do you 
not eat of every tree of the garden?' 

"And the woman said unto the serpent: 'We may eat of the 
fruit of the trees of the garden. 

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, 

O 7 

God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest 
ye die.' 

And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surelv 



44 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your 
eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and 
evil/ " 

You see how Satan then, just as he does now, mixed the truth 
with falsehood. God meant that in the day they ate of it they 
should be mortal — dying humanity. 

a And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to 
make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave 
also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." 

Thus did she fall short of that for which she was created — a A 
helpmeet for her husband." 

"And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that 
they were naked." No good thing ever came to them from the 
knowledge which they had thus gained. They were made not like 
unto God, but like unto Satan, knowing and desiring evil. "And 
they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons," or 
things to gird them about with. 

"And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the 
garden in the cool of the day." How pleasant is this picture of 
their friend and companion! Yet, "Adam and his wife hid them- 
selves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the 
garden." To them everything was changed; the pleasant air blew 
chill. The rustling leaves made them start with guilty fear; every 
sound, even the crowing of the cock or the lowing of the herds, 
seemed to warn them of impending danger. 

"Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? 
saith the Lord." 

"Do not I fill heaven and earth?" 

"And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will 
search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my 
sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, 
and he shall bite them." 

Alas, that they should desire to hide themselves from one who 
had always been their friend. "For if our heart condemn us; God 
is greater than our heart; and knoweth all things." 



THE FIRST FAMILY. 45 

"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, 
Where art thou?" 

And he said, "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid 
because I was naked; and I hid myself." 

And God said, '"Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I com- 
manded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" 

Already Eve's punishment began to come upon her, for Ad- 
am's love and praise were turned into upbraiding. He said, "The 
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree 
and I did eat." 

And the Lord God turned to her and said, "What is this that 
thou hast done?" 

She did not and could not realize all the fearful consequences 
that were to follow this dreadful act of disobedience, but life al- 
ready was so changed, so full of terror and dismay, so shorn of 
love and happiness, that she dared not look into the future. 

"And she said, 'The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.' " 

And the Lord God punished them according to the degree of 
their guilt. 

The serpent, into which Satan entered, was "cursed above all 
cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou 
go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;" the very 
name serpent is synonymous with all that is vilest in the earth. 

God also told Satan that he should put enmity between him 
and the woman, and between his seed and her seed. 

Of his seed St. John savs : "Ye are of vour father the devil, and 
the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the 
beginning, and abode not in the truth. When he speaketh a lie he 
speaks of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it." 

In this dark and apparently hopeless tragedy, there is one ray 
of light; we find it in the latter part of the curse which God pro- 
nounces upon Satan. 

Although the war, which is here begun between Satan and hu- 
manity, is to be waged for long ages, God promises that the seed 
of the woman shall finally bruise the serpent's head. 

"And when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his 



46 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

own son, made of a woman, to redeem them that were under the 
law." 

"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet." 

"That through death he might destroy him that had the power 
of death, that is the devil." 

"Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death, and hath 
brought life and immortality to light." God's curse upon the 
woman was to come to her through her husband and children; 
those whom she had irreparably wronged; her children should 
be brought forth with much suffering; the great joy of dawning 
motherhood should always be alloyed with physical pain. And 
her husband should rule over her. 

And unto Adam He said, "Because thou hast hearkened unto 
the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I com- 
manded thee, saying 'thou shalt not eat of it'; cursed be the ground 
for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. 
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou 
shalt eat the herb of the field." Hitherto growth had been spon- 
taneous, now it should be secured only through hard labor. In- 
stead of eating the choicest fruits of Eden, they should eat the 
herb of the field. Man had taken a long step downward — nearer 
the cattle of the field, farther away from the angels. 

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return 
unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, 
and unto dust shalt thou return." 

In these words God pronounced the first burial service; for 
although Adam and his wife lived many years after this, upon the 
earth, yet the time when they should lie down in the ground was 
ever before them, for they had chosen the tree of death, although 
the tree of life was in the garden, and they might freely have eaten 
of it. 

Just here there are a few words thrown in; sort of remarks by 
the way. "And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she 
was the mother of all living." Alas, that she became the mother 
of mortals, when immortality had been hers to give. 




ADAM AND EVE DRIVEN FROM PARADISE. 



THE FIRST FAMILY. 49 

"Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord make coats of 
skins and clothed them." 

"And the Lord God said, behold the man is become as one of 
us, to know good and evil" — knowing good and evil was very 
different from and being as God, in whom was no evil. 

"And now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of 
life, and eat, and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent him 
forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he 
was taken." 

Thank God, that in His infinite wisdom and love, He prevented 
our father Adam from partaking of the tree of life, after he became 
a sinner, and thereby entailing upon his descendants the untold 
misery of immortality, in this sorrowing and suffering world. 

"So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the gar- 
den of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every 
way, to keep the way of the tree of life." 

"Who maketh his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire." 

Although this day, when our mother Eve beheld for the last 
time the gay gardens, the towering forests, the smiling rivers, and 
the jeweled foundations of her first home must have been a sad one, 
yet there was a sadder day still in store for her. Poor old Eve; 
how much trouble she brought upon us all! And yet we cannot 
but sorrow for her. 

By and by, when her little son was laid in her arms, we mothers 
know, that her first thrill of exultation: "I have gotten a man 
from the Lord," was choked by the remembrance that it was be- 
cause of her sin that he was a mortal — a dying, sinful man. Eve 
called this first boy Cain, and when some time after his little 
brother was born to them, she called him Abel. Years elapse be- 
tween this event and the next one related of the family of Adam. 
This was when these boys were grown to manhood, and had chosen 
their trades or occupations. 

Cain, like his father, is a tiller of the ground; you remember 
that God Himself chose Adam's occupation for him, and what 
more natural than that the first son should choose the same; but 
"Abel was a keeper of sheep." 



50 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

"And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of 
the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord," — a thank offer- 
ing. 

"And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of 
the fat thereof," — a sin offering. You see thus early in the history 
of our race was our Redeemer, Christ, typified — although this com- 
mand was given later. "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of 
thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors; the first born of thy sons shalt 
thou give unto me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and 
with thy sheep." 

"And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. 

But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect." 

Many people wonder over this, and think that the first fruits 
of the ground were not as acceptable to God as the firstlings of the 
flock, but this was not the case; it was because of the difference of 
the spirit in which each one made his offering. 

"By faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice 
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, 
God testifying of his gifts; and by it, he being dead yet speaketk." 

"And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. 

And the Lord said unto Cain: Why are thou wroth, and why 
is thy countenance fallen? 

If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou 
doest not well, sin lieth at the door." 

Such a wise and gentle warning. If Cain could only have mas- 
tered his jealous, angry feelings, and have realized that the trouble 
was with himself. But as he cherished his anger and hatred in his 
heart, he met his brother and talked with him. "And it came to 
pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against his 
brother, and slew him." 

Do you not think that Eve now, if never before, remembered 
the words of the Lord: "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth chil- 
dren." This was the first blood shed upon the earth; the blood 
of righteous Abel. Alas, that blood has been flowing on the earth 
ever since, and from the same cause. 

St. John says: "For this is the message that we heard from 
the beginning, that we love one another; not as Cain, who was 




THE MURDER OF ABEL. 



THE FIRST FAMILY. 53 

of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he 
him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's right- 
eous." 

But the Lord, then as now, made inquisition for blood. Imme- 
diately He said to Cain, "Where is Abel, thy brother?" And he 
said: "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" 

And now God confronted Cain with the same old question, with 
which He had confronted his mother: "What hast thou done? The 
voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." 

And that God has not forgotten this cry, we know by the 
vision which St. John gives us in his Revelation: And I saw 
"the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the 
testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, say- 
ing, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and 
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" And for an- 
swer they are told, "That they should rest yet for a little season" 
until "the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able 
to stand?" 

And God said to Cain: "And now art thou cursed from the 
earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood 
from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground it shall not hence- 
forth yield unto thee her strength." 

The ground was cursed for Adam's sake, and Cain was cursed 
from the ground. 

Adam's punishment was to till the ground, but from Cain was 
withheld even its natural increase. 

And God said to Cain: "A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou 
be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment 
is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out 
this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be 
hid." In these last words Cain realized negatively one of the truths 
which Christ preached in His sermon on the Mount: 

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 

And St. Paul warns us also of the same truth: "Follow peace 
with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the 
Lord." 

Cain feared greatly that, as a wanderer upon the earth, he 



54 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

should be slain as he had slain his brother; so "the Lord set a 
mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." What this 
mark was, we cannot tell, but we know it could not have been 
the same seal as that of which St. John speaks so many times 
as being in the foreheads of the servants of God. Tradition says 
that Cain's tongue turned white, or that a red star shone in his fore- 
head. 

"And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt 
in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden." 

"From the presence of the Lord." Does this mean forever? 
What he so dreaded, being hidden from the face of God, had come 
to pass, but was there no hope for him? 

Thus were Adam and Eve bereft of both these sons, Then was 
added another son unto them, who was a great comfort to Eve. 
She called his name Seth., "For God, said she, hath appointed me 
another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." 

This is the last time that Eve is mentioned by name. According 
to the words which God had spoken, her individual life is lost in 
that of her husband's. The sacred Eecord says, "All the days of 
Adam, after he had begotten Seth, were eight hundred years, and 
he begat sons and daughters," and we have every reason to believe 
that Eve also lived to great age. Seth was like his brother Abel 
in disposition. The Bible says of him, "Adam begat a son in his 
own likeness, after his image." 

Adam lived to the ripe old age of nine hundred and thirty years, 
and saw his children of the ninth generation around him. In the 
seventh generation was born a man named Enoch, who walked 
with God three hundred years, "and he was not, for God took 
him" — the first man who went to heaven without dying, as did 
Elijah. And Jude tells us that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, 
prophesied, saying, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of 
his saints." 

Enoch's son, Methuselah, lived to be nine hundred and sixty- 
nine years old, and was the oldest man who ever lived, although 
he was only thirty-nine years older than Adam, who lived long 



THE FIRST FAMILY. 55 

enough to see the wickedness he had brought upon the earth, for 
he lived until the time of Lantech, the father of Noah. 

Thus closes the record of earth's first family. "And all the 
days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and 
he died." 

"It is appointed unto men once to die." 

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: 
on such the second death hath no power." 



Zbe 1bome in tbe Hrfc. 




l iujujjiiiuiiaiaii i ^^ 



NOAH AND HIS FAMILY ENTERING THE ARK. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Cfye bomc in tfye CLxk. 

• 

IN ORDER to understand the condition of mankind at this period 
of the world, we must know that there were two distinct races, 
descended from Adam — the children of Cain and the children 
of Seth. Cain was of his father the devil, choosing evil rather 
than good. 

A murderer, God sent him forth from his home, branded: "A 
fugitive and a vagabond in the earth." And vet he became the 
father of a race of men. 

At the time of his murderino- Abel, he was about one hundred 
and twentv-eiii'ht years old, and already married. It is probable 
that a band of men and women from his father's house went out 
with him into exile. 

Shortly after this a son was born unto him, and he called his 
name Enoch, which means to consecrate. 

We cannot but hope from this that Cain did repent of his 
wickedness, and that he consecrated this son to God. He also 
builded a city and called it Enoch after his son. His son of the 
sixth generation, Lainech, was a murderer like himself. These are 
his words: "I have slain a man to mv wounding, and a voting man 
to mv hurt. If Cain shall be avenged seven fold, truly Lantech 
seventy and seven fold." Lantech's son Jabal was a shepherd like 
Abel; for we are told that "He was the father of such as dwell in 
tents, and of such as have cattle," while his brother, Jubal, was the 
father of musicians, "of all such as handle the harp and organ." 
Another son, Tubal Cain, was a smith, '"an instructor of every 
artificer, in brass and iron." You see how mighty was this race 
descended from Cain, for these children of Lamech, the murderer, 
only one thousand years from the creation, were shepherds, musi- 
cians, inventors. It was probably they who invented the plough, 
but, alas! also the sword came from their hands. 

Cain's descendants were worldly-wise, but wicked. 

59 



60 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

On the other hand, we have an account of the race descended 
from Seth, who was appointed by God to take the place of "right- 
eous Abel, whom Cain slew." Seth's son of the sixth generation, 
Enoch, instead of being a murderer like Lamech, "walked with 
God." It was Enoch's grandson, another Lamech, who said of his 
son, Noah,: "This same shall comfort us concerning our work and 
toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath 
cursed." 

It was owing to the difference in the character of these two 
races that the children of Cain were called "sons of men," and the 
descendants of Seth were called "the sons of God." 

Now, when Noah was five hundred years old, it came to pass 
that the descendants of Cain began to multiply greatly in the 
earth, "and their daughters were very fair to look upon, so that 
'the sons of God' took them wives of all which they chose." 

God, seeing this, said: "My spirit shall not always strive with 
man; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years," or I shall 
give him an hundred and twenty years wherein to repent. 

From this union of "the sons of God" with "the daughters of 
men" were born giants in the earth, "mighty men which were of 
old, men of renown." 

But the wickedness in the earth was great. "Every imagina- 
tion of the thoughts of man's heart" and his purposes and desires 
"were only evil continually." 

"And it repented the Lord, that he had made man in the earth, 
and it grieved him in his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy 
man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man 
and beast and the creeping thing and the fowl of the air." 

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. . . . Noah 
was a just man, and perfect in his generation, and Noah walked 
with God," as did his grandfather Enoch before him. "And Noah 
begat three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth." And as God looked 
abroad over the earth, once so fair and peaceful, and saw it so cor- 
rupt and so full of wickedness, He said to Noah : "The end of all 
flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through 
them ; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth." 



THE HOME IN THE ARK. 61 

"O thou that dw<dl<-st upon many waters, abundant in tn -as- 
ures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy coYetousn — .'" 

"Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger 
upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will 
recompense upon thee all thy abominations." 

"And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity, but. 
I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations 
shall be in the midst of thee, and ye shall know that I am the 
Lord." 

And God said to Noah, "Make thee an ark of Gopher wood, 
rooms shalt thou make in the ark and thou shalt pitch it within 
and without with pitch." It was to be live hundred and forty-seven 
feet lonu', ninetv-one feet broad and hftv-hve feet high. It Avas to 
be upwards of eighty thousand burthen. "A window shalt thou 
make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the 
door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, sec- 
ond and third stories shalt thou make it." 

The word Zohar, here translated window, signifies also splendor, 
light, and never occurs in the singular but in this one place, so 
that this meant a place for light and air, probably a verandah 
around the whole upper portion of the ark, something similar to 
that with which our modern steamers are provided. The ark was 
just about the length of many of our great ships of the present day. 

And in a cubit shalt thou finish it; that is, run the roof up to a 
cubit in size. 

I see no reason why the idea should obtain that the ark was 
incommodious and unsightly. It was designed by the great Archi- 
tect, who planned heaven and earth, and the man who built it 
learned of the greatest of all workmen, and was under His direc- 
tion for a hundred years. We may rest assured that it was a 
beautiful and comfortable abode for the family of Noah, and that 
ample provision was made for the care and sustenance of the 
numerous animals which were to be committed to his keeping. 

••And, behold. I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the 
earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under 
heaven; and evervthincr that is in the earth shall die." 



62 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

So God established His covenant with Noah, promising to save 
him and his family, also two of every living thing of all flesh; 
"fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creep- 
ing thing of the earth after his kind." God also told Noah to 
gather in an abundance of all kinds of food, to take with him into 
the ark, when it should be finished. 

"Thus Noah did, according to all that God commanded him, so 
did he." 

"By faith Noah being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, 
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the 
which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteous- 
ness, which is by faith." 

"The just shall live by faith." "God spared not the old world, 
but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, 
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." 

You see Noah was fearless, as well as good; it took as much 
courage then, as it would now, to begin building an ark, and to 
preach righteousness and repentance, and the destruction of the 
world by a flood of waters, But Noah did this, in spite of scoffs 
and sneers, for a hundred years; his faith in God strong and un- 
wavering. 

We do not know how long the ark was finished, and lay high 
and dry in the sight of an unbelieving and mocking world; but in 
the fulness of time, God gave the long expected command : "Come 
thou, and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous 
before me in this generation." 

"Of every clean beast shalt thou take to thee by sevens, the 
male and his female; and of beasts that are not clean, by twos, the 
male and his female, to keep seed alive upon the face of the earth." 

This was seven days before the flood began; still time to repent, 
had any desired so to do; but the hearts of all those upon the earth 
were filled with unbelief. They looked with pity upon poor, foolish 
Noah and his family. But after seven days had elapsed, in the 
six hundredth year of Noah's life, "the fountains of the great deep 
were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened." 

"In the self-same day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and 




THE FLOOD DESTROYING THE EARTH. 



THE HOME IX TRE ARK. 65 

Japketk," and Noah's wife and his sons' wives into the ark. "And the 
Lord shut the door." "And the flood was forty days upon the 
earth." How safe and yet how awe-stricken they must have felt! 
No doubt their hearts were filled with grateful praises to God, as 
they heard the storm beat without; the dashing rain, the thunders 
and lightnings of God's wrath, as it fell upon a wicked and faith- 
less world. 

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall 
abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 

I will say of the Lord, He is nry refuge and my fortress; my God, 
in Him will I trust. 

Surely He will deliver thee from the snare of the fowder, and 
from the noisome pestilence. 

He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings 
shalt thou trust. . . . 

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the 
arrow that flieth by day; 

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the 
destruction that wasteth at noonday. 

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right 
hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of 
the wicked. 

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the 
most High, thy habitation. 

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come 
nigh thy dwelling." 

The family in the ark felt no terror as they saw the waters in- 
crease upon the earth, for Noah had w T aited a hundred years to see 
this day. No doubt they were saddened at the destruction of their 
old friends and neighbors, whose dismay and terror increased as 
their homes were swept aw r ay, and the w T aters overwhelmed them 
everywhere. It must have been a fearful sight, while the agonized 
shrieks and groans of the drowning were only stilled in death. As 
the fury of the storm increased, the ark was borne up above the 
earth and the people climbed the high hills for safety. 



66 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

By degrees, however, the waters increased so greatly that the 
ark was borne upon the face of them. Soon every object was 
hidden from view, "And all the high hills that were under the 
whole heaven were covered." 

Nearly thirty feet upward did the waters prevail, "and the 
mountains were covered." 

"Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from 
the multitude of mountains." 

"All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, died." 

"And Noah only remained alive and they that were with him 
in the ark." 

The descendants of Cain were destroyed from the face of the 
whole earth, and the new civilization was to be through the family 
of Seth. 

The ark was now borne on the breast of the waters, and the 
family in the ark were afloat. It was not an unpleasant sensation; 
out on "the ocean sailing." And yet to feel one's self adrift in 
mid-ocean, without compass, chart or map is not usually pleasant 
to contemplate. 

A dreary feeling will come with no land in sight, nothing but 
water as far as the eye can reach. 

But the home in the ark was a safe one, for the family had 
God's words to Noah, "Thee have I seen righteous before me in this 
generation." Although they were separated from old scenes and 
former neighbors, they were all together, an unbroken family. We 
fathers and mothers know what a comfortable feeling comes to us 
when the storm is raging without, and all our dear ones are safely 
sheltered within the home nest. So Noah and his wife and his 
sons and their wives felt the joy of companionship, of love and 
safety, with God's mighty protection around them. 

"And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty 
days." 

Five long months were they at sea, knowing not where they 
were, nor what were God's plans in regard to them, for up to this 
time they could see not the least decrease in the waters. They 
simply trusted in God's promise, and they were rewarded for their 



THE HOME IN THE ARK. 67 

faith, for at the end of one hundred and fifty days we are told that 
"God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle 
that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over 
the earth, and the waters asswaged." 

The howling of the wind must have been like a storm at sea, 
but their craft was strong, and they knew who was at the helm. 

"The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven 
were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained." 

Now the waters gradually began to diminish, and the ark 
rested, in the seventh month, in the seventeenth day of the month, 
upon the mountains of Ararat in Armenia. 

How far the ark had moved from the home of Noah we cannot 
tell, but probably, in the seven months before it rested on the 
mountains, it had floated a long distance. So that everything 
would be strange and unfamiliar in that new home toward which 
the family in the ark were so long voyaging. 

On the first day of the tenth month, the family saw the tops 
of the mountains, at which sight they must have been as much re- 
joiced as was Columbus at his first glimpse of the new continent. 

Forty days after this view of the mountain tops, Noah "sent 
forth a raven, w T hich went to and fro, until the waters were dried 
up from off the earth." 

Then he sent forth a dove, but she "found no rest for the sole of 
her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark." 

In seven days more Noah sent forth the dove again, and she 
"came to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf, 
pluckt off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off 
the earth." 

Noah waited a week longer, and then he sent forth the dove 
again, and she returned to him no more. 

"So Noah removed the covering of the ark, and behold, the 
face of the ground was dry." 

It was now over a year since God had shut them in, yet although 
Noah knew that the earth was again dry, he waited patiently for 
God's command. 

"Go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife, thy sons and thy sons' 



68 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing, . . . 
and be fruitful and multiply upon the earth." 

And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt 
offerings unto him. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor, a fore- 
shadowing of the truth, "as Christ also hath loved us, and hath 
given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet- 
smelling savor." 

The Lord was pleased at Noah's gratitude and worship and ac- 
cepted his offering. 

And the Lord said: "I will not again curse the ground any 
more for man's sake. 

Neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I 
have done; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his 
youth." 

"What is man that he should be clean? And he that is born of 
a woman, that he should be righteous?" 

"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother 
conceive me." 

So God made this promise to Noah that "while the earth re- 
maineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer 
and winter, and day and night shall not cease." 

"For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great 
mercies will I gather thee." 

"I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no longer go over 
the earth." And God blessed Noah and his sons, as He had their 
forefather, Adam, over sixteen hundred years before, and to them 
He gave the same commands: "Be fruitful and multiply and re- 
plenish the earth." To them He gave the same dominion over all 
the earth, and over all animal life that He had given to Adam. 

God gave to that first man the fruit of every tree, except the 
tree of life; now He extended to Noah, besides the fruit of the trees, 
the use of animal food. In this gift also He made one exception; 
He retained the blood, which is the life; "God alone is the giver of 
life." 

One direction which Noah received from God at this time was 



THE HOME IN THE ARK. 69 

that great law which, has obtained among mankind ever since: 
"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." 

God established His covenant with Noah and perpetual genera- 
tions, that the earth should be destroyed no more, forever, by a 
flood. 

When we look upon the rainbow of promise, the token which 
God has set in the cloud, know we then, that God will have us in 
everlasting remembrance. I never look upon this beautiful sym- 
bol of God's love that my faith in Him is not strengthened ; with 
this miraculous vision before me, life and death and the resurrec- 
tion become glorified realities. 

"As the appearance of the bow in the day of rain, so was the 
appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appear- 
ance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." 

"And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine 
stone, and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight 
like unto an emerald." 



Zhe 1bome in tbe Zcnt 





ABRAHAM DEPARTING FROM HARAN. 




CHAPTER V. 

Oje V)omc in the (Tent 

S GOD chose Seth from the family of Adam to represent Him 
in the earth, so from the family of Noah He chose Shem. 
••The Lord knoweth them that are his." 
As we look down the line of descent from Adam to Shem, 
even of those called "the sons of God," we find bnt few names 
that the Lord thought worthy to be singled out from the multitude. 
After Seth came Enoch of the sixth generation. His son 
Methuselah, we cannot but feel must have served God, because of 
the long life with which he was honored. 

Then there was Lanieeh, whose language bespeaks for him the 
title of a God-fearing man. Next came righteous Noah, the father 
of Shem. 

But it is not until the tenth generation from Shem that another 
man appeared whom God could honor with a call. 

"Thou art the Lord, the God who didst choose Abrani and 
brouuhtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees." 

"His fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood ithe River 
Euphrates) in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and 
thev served other Gods.*' 

m 

The birthplace of Abram, Ur of the Chaldees, was at that time 
(four thousand years ago) a flourishing and beautiful city. '"It was 
a place in which learning was encouraged, arts and sciences were 
cultivated. There astronomers studied the heavens, poets wrote 
hymns and epics, patient scribes stamped on soft clay those early 
books, which have been so helpful to students of ancient life and 
customs." 

"The River Euphrates did not then flood the country, but spread 
itself in a network of sparkling canals." 

The palm tree grew in Chaldea in Abram's day, in such lux- 
uriance that the fruit hung in golden clusters upon ir. Here also 
grew the tamarisks, the acacias and the pomegranates. Golden 

73 



74 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES, 

fields of wheat, and the millet and corn plants of all kinds grew 
there most plentifully. 

When you think of this home where Abram was born and lived 
with his father Terah and his grandfather Nahor, the following 
words seem truly wonderful: "By faith Abraham, when he was 
called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an 
inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he 
went." 

It meant a, great deal in those days for a family to give up home 
and friends, prosperity with a promising future, to go into a place 
which they knew not of. The old idea of perpetuity of families and 
of homesteads has almost passed from the earth in this age of 
rapid transit, but even now it were wise for any family to be as 
sure of the Lord's voice as was Abram, before giving up the home 
and the work in which God has placed them. 

But Abram was sure of the call of God, for Paul tells us that 
"The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he 
was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran." 

God had a great work for Abram, and called him forth from an 
idolatrous and superstitious people. He had grown up from boy- 
hood surrounded by these influences, even his own father Terah 
"served other gods," but it was because of the call of God that 
Abram persuaded his father Terah to take the tribe and start for 
the land of Canaan. With them were Abram's wife Sarai and his 
nephew Lot, his dead brother Haran's son. 

"And they came unto Haran and dwelt there." 

They had traveled over six hundred miles from Ur to Haran; 
they were many months in making the journey. 

In Haran they found pastures for their cattle, and Terah, no 
doubt, was pleased with the temples, which afforded them oppor- 
tunities for idol worship, and being weary of travel, they remained 
in Haran two years, at the end of which time Terah died. 

Now the Lord appeared unto Abram again. This was the sec- 
ond time, and He said unto him, "Get thee out of thy country, and 
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I 
will shew thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will 



THE HOME IN THE TENT. 75 

bless thee and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. 

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that 
cnrseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be 
blessed." 

Abram was seventy-five years old at this time when he departed 
"with Sarai, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, and all their sub- 
stance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten 
in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and 
into the land of Canaan they came." 

In studying the life of Abram, there is only one key which will 
explain all the wonders of God's providence over him, and His oft 
repeated promises to him. 

"And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for 
righteousness." 

Now as Abram passed through the land unto the plain of Moreh 
he found the Canaanites, another race entirely, the descendants of 
Noah's son Ham. 

Here the Lord appeared unto him the third time, and said: 
"Unto thy seed will I give this land, and there he builded an altar 
and called upon the name of the Lord, who appeared unto him." 

This was on a mountain, having Bethel on the west and Hai on 
the east, and here Abram pitched his tent and sojourned for awhile. 

"By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange 
country, dwelling in tabernacles." In a few months he again jour- 
neyed on, "going still toward the south." 

And about this time there was a grievous famine in the land, 
"and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there." 

And as they came near to enter into Egypt, Abram arranged 
with Sarai, his wife, that she should say that she was his sister. 

"And it came to pass that when Abram was come into Egypt, 
the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair;" and 
Sarai was taken into Pharaoh's house. 

"And he entreated Abram well for her sake," and cared also for 
his servants and camels and asses. 

"And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great 
plagues, because of Sarai, Abram's wife." 



76 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

"And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him, and they 
sent him away and his wife and all that he had." 

Now we must use the key, "and the Lord counted his faith unto 
him for righteousness." Abram, the friend of God, was subject to 
temptations, and sometimes yielded just as we do. 

"And Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that 
he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 

And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold." 

It was now three years since Abram had first entered Canaan 
and built an altar unto the Lord at Bethel, unto which place he was 
now, in his wanderings, come again, and here he stopped and 
"called on the name of the Lord." 

Lot, all this time, still continued to travel and pitch his tents 
with the company of Abram; and Lot also was rich in flocks and 
herds and tents. 

And "their riches were more than that they might dwell to- 
gether; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear 
them because of their cattle." 

"And there was strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle 
and the herdmen of Lot's cattle." 

Now in this little circumstance which follows, we can see 
clearly the generous, large-hearted nature of Abram. 

"And Abram said unto Lot, "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, 
between me and thee and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; 
for we be brethren." 

"If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with 
all men." 

"Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell 
together in unity." 

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no 
man shall see the Lord." 

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peace- 
able, gentle, easy to be entreated." 

"And Abram said to Lot, Is not the whole land before thee? 
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left 




-- ■ /* 

--S^SBlHBiBIBBBjaBai 





SL - 1 



:..,:- : 




iw* 



THE SEPARATION OF ABRAM AND LOT. 



TEE HOME ::■ TH1 

hand, then I will go to tl _ r if tL the right h; 

then I will g he left.** 

There is a w..»nderfnl lesson in this eL Lot's ith 

Abrani. had left an idolatrous nation and was no doubt hiniself a 

shipper of the tra- : r St. Peter q > : him as a "j 

and righteous man." and yet because the pilain of Jordan was 
wa~ s the _.irden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt."* 

ell tL nd pitched his tent toward Sodom." 

•But the men : 6 lorn were wicked and sinners before the 
Lor ^dingly." 

showed Himself well ] aed with Abrani's conduct towaril 
nd that he was still in Canaan, the land of promise, and 
spoke unto him the fourth time: 'Lift up now thir 5, and look 

front the place where thou art northward, and southward, an 
ward, and westward, 

r all the land which thou seest. to thee will I _ it. and to 
thy seed forever 

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a 
man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy - ilso be 
numbered. 

Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the 
breadth of it: for I will give it unto the 

Abrani * - ggered not at the promise of through unbe- 

lief, but was strong in faith, giving glory - 1. fully persua 

that what he had promised he was able also to perform."* 

Think of this wonderful faith: for in this land _ Mm 

none inheritan* :■- : l t & much s1 set Ms foot on. yet he prom- 

I that He would give it to him for a pc n. and to hiss 

after him. when as yet he had no child." 

All around Abrani were strong, powerful, idolatrous nari 
and to them the whole lane naan bel 

One of the strongest races descended from Xoab was through 
Ms son Ham. whom Noah cursed. And tL> utiful land, in 

wMch Abram was now a pilgrim, and which God p>roniised to give 
tohissc - named from Ham's son Canaan. 

There were .rood many different tribes spying the Ian 



THE HOME IN THE TEXT. M 

Canaan, each bearing separate names, but they were all included 
under the name Canaanites. 

It was because of the wickedness of these people that God was 
going to take their land from them, and give it to the seed of 
Abiam. 

"Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the 
father of many nations, according to that which was spoken." 

After God spoke to Abram at Bethel, he moved his tent again 
"and came and dwelt in the plains of Mature in Hebron, and built 
there an altar unto the Lord." 

Abram kept his tents here, or in this neighborhood, for nineteen 
years, and many wonderful things happened to him during this 
time. 

The first which we have to narrate is the battle of the kings, 
four against five. Five of the kingdoms of Canaan, among which 
were Sodom and Gomorrah, had for twelve years been subject to 
Chedorlaomer, the great king of the Elamites, descendants of 
Shem. In the thirteenth year they rebelled, and in the fourteenth 
year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and 
smote these Canaanites, "And then went out the King of Sodom 
and the King of Gomorrah," and the three kings that were with 
them, all descendants of Ham, and joined battle with the four 
kings. 

"And the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits, and the kings of 
Sodom and Goniorrak fled, and fell there; and they that remained 
fled to the mountain." 

This vale Siddim was the very place where, over three hundred 
years before, Hani's descendants, the forefathers of these inhabi- 
tants of Sodom and Gomorrah, had tried to build the tower of 
Babel, and had used brick for stone and slime for mortar. Now 
some of these tribes which Chedorlaomer smote are described by 
Moses as "a people great, and many and tall as the Anakims, which 
were also accounted as giants." 

These were the people whom the descendants of Shem smote. 

"And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all 
their victuals, and went their wav. 



82 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

And they took Lot, Abrani's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, 
and his goods, and departed 

And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, 
he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hun- 
dred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. 

And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by 
night, and smote them. . . . 

And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his 
brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also and the people. 

And the King of Sodom went out to meet him after his return 
from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were 
with him." 

Thus was Lot and his family and all that he had saved with 
wicked Sodom and Gomorrah, because of righteous Abram. And 
lo! to Abram in his self-sacrificing effort for Lot, there came a great 
blessing. "Melchizedek, King of Salem (which is King of Peace), 
brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most 
high God. 

And he blessed him and said : Blessed be Abram of the most 
high God, possessor of heaven and earth; 

And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine 
enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all." 

St. Paul says, "Now consider how great this man (Melchizedec) 
was, unto whom the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils." 

This character, Melchizedec, is one of the most wonderful in all 
the Bible; and is well worth your study. Read what St. Paul says 
concerning him in the seventh chapter of his Epistle to the He- 
brews, 

And David says, "The Lord hath sworn and will not repent; 
thou (Christ) art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedec." 

Was it not a great honor, that this "priest of the most high 
God" should meet Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the 
kings, and bless him? 

The King of Sodom offered Abram the goods that were taken in 
the battle, but Abram said he had made this vow : "I will not take 
from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take any- 
thing that is thine, lest that thou shouldest say, I have made Abram 
rich." 



THE HOME IN THE TEXT. S3 

After this Abram had his tifth vision of the Lord, in which He 
said, "Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeeding great 
reward. 

And Abram said, 'Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I 
go childless? .... 

To me thou hast given no seed; and lo, one born in my house 
is mine heir.' 

And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 'This 
shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine 
own bowels shall be thine heir.' . . . 

And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for 
righteousness." 

And then for the first time, Abram asked a pledge of the Lord. 

And the Lord told him to take an heifer, a she goat and a ram of 
three years old, and a turtle dove and a young pigeon. The first 
three were to be divided in halves, each half laid over against the 
other, "but the birds divided he not." 

"And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon 
Abram; and lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him." 

Then the Lord shewed him a vision of his children, as strangers 
and servants in a strange land, and how they should be griev- 
ously afflicted for four hundred years: also how He should judge 
that nation, and bring Abraham's children forth with great sub- 
stance into the land of Canaan. 

"And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, thou shalt be buried 
in a good old age." 

And as a pledge of this, "when the sun went down, and it was 
dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed 
between those pieces." 

In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saving, 
"Unto thy seed have I given this land," from the River of Egypt 
unto the River Euphrates. 

He also promised to give into their hand all the inhabitants of 
the land of Canaan. 

How strange it is that after a special blessing from God, when 
we have been in the very "secret of His presence," and have felt 



84 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

His benediction over us, upon coming out into the busy world, 
with its cares and struggles and limitations, we find the tempter 
awaiting us. 

So as Abram came, fresh from the pledge of the smoking fur- 
nace and the burning lamp; fresh from the vision of that far dis- 
tant future, in which he saw his children's children, the tempter, in 
the form of his wife, came to him with a plan by which they might 
have a child; as though they should have to make God's words pos- 
sible of fulfillment ! Sarai suggested to Abram that he should take 
Hagar, her maid, to be his wife, she being Sarai's bond-slave; her 
children would be Sarai's children, according to the custom of 
those times. 

So Abram hearkened unto the voice of his wife, as did Adam 
unto the voice of Eve, so many years before; both Adam and 
Abram knew that they were doing wrong, and were following their 
own inclinations, as well as the voices of their wives. 

Choosing evil brought trouble into the tent, just as it had into 
the garden. 

The following little scene in the home life of Abram and Sarai 
brings out beautifully Abram's royal devotion and courtesy to his 
wife, who is truly mistress in the tent. 

"Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowl- 
edge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as 
being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not 
hindered." 

"When Sarai saw that she was despised in the eyes of Hagar, 
she said to Abram, 'My wrong be upon thee. . . . The Lord 
judge between me and thee." 

And Abram did not upbraid her, but gave her "the soft answer 
which turneth away wrath." He said unto Sarai, "Behold thy 
maid is in thy hands; do to her as it pleaseth thee. 

And when Sarai dealt hardly with her she fled from her face 
. . . . into the wilderness." 

Here the Lord Jehovah spoke these words to her, as she lay 
weary and disconsolate: 



THE HOME IN THE TENT. 85 

"Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her 
hands 

. . . I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not 
be numbered for multitude, .... and thou shalt bear a son, 
and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy 
affliction. 

And he will be a wild man, his hand will be against every 
man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the 
presence of all his brethren." 

And she called the name of the well where God spoke unto her, 
Beer-Lahai-roi, Thou God seest me. 

And when Abram was eighty-six years old Hagar bare him a 
son, and he called his name Ishmael. 

Thirteen years after this, the Lord appeared unto Abram in his 
sixth vision, with these beautiful words: "I am the Almighty God; 
walk before me, and be thou perfect." 

And as Abram fell on his face, God talked with him, and estab- 
lished the covenant of circumcision with him, and changed his 
name from Abram to Abraham, "for a father of many nations have 
I made thee 

And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful and I will make na- 
tions of thee, and kings shall come out of thee." 

It was nearly nine hundred years before King David's time, but 
he was a lineal descendant of Abram in the fourteenth generation, 
and a fulfillment of this prophecy. 

This is the covenant which God made with Abraham, and with 
his seed after him: "Every man child among you shall be cir- 
cumcised." 

Every male that is eight days old "that is born in thy house, and 
he that is bought with thy money must needs be circumcised. 

And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting cov- 
enant." 

This covenant was to the seed of Abraham, what baptism is to 
us. 

"And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the right- 



86 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

eousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised; that he 
might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not cir- 
cumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them . . . 
. . who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abra- 
ham. . . . 

For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was 
not to Abraham or to his seed, through the law, but through the 
righteousness of faith." 

It was at this time that God also changed Sarai's name to 
Sarah, which means princess, and that He made this wonderful 
promise concerning her: "And I will bless her, and give thee a 
son also of her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peo- 
ple shall be of her." 

Now Abraham questioned in his heart, "Shall a child be born 
unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah that is 
ninety years old bear?" 

And then out of the fulness of his heart came forth unto God 
the desire that had been there for thirteen years. 

a O that Ishmael might live before thee!" 

Which prayer, right in itself, and which God answered, shows 
how often we are content with less than God desires to give us. 

Ishmael was not the child of promise, "But he who was of the 
bond-woman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was 
by promise. . . . 

This one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, 
which is Hagar. . . . 

But Jerusalem which is above (the heavenly Jerusalem) is free, 
which is the mother of us all." 

And God said, Sarah, thy wife, shall bear thee a son indeed, 
and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my cove- 
nant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after 
him." 

And remembering Abraham's prayer for Ishmael, God said: 
"And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, 
and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; 
twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 



THE HOME IN THE TEXT. 87 

But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall 
bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 

And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abra- 
ham." 

Talking with God! Surrounded by His presence, honored with 
His confidence; truly Abraham was "the friend of God forever." 

"Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, fear thou 
not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will 
strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with 
the right hand of my righteousness." 

In the self-same day, as God had said unto him, Abraham took 
Ishmael and every man among the men of his house and circum- 
cised the flesh of their foreskin. And Abraham was ninety-nine 
years old when he was circumcised. 

We now have before us a beautiful picture of Oriental hospital- 
ity. As Abraham "sat in the tent door in the heat of the day," the 
Lord appeared unto him; and as he looked he saw three men, and 
"he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself toward 
the ground." 

These were the Lord Himself and two of His angels, and Abra- 
ham said, "My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass 
not away, I pray thee." 

Then Abraham offered them water to wash their feet and food 
for the refreshing of their bodies, which they accepted. 

And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah and said, 
Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and 
make cakes upon the hearth. 

And Abraham ran unto the herd and fetched a calf, tender and 
good, and gave it unto a young man, and he hasted to dress it. 

And he took butter and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, 
and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree, and 
they did eat." 

"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have 
entertained angels unawares." 

"Use hospitality one to another without grudging." 



88 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same 
one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 

"For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty 
and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in." 

"And they said unto him, 'Where is Sarah, thy wife?' and he 
said, 'Behold in the tent.' 

And He (the Lord) said, 'I will certainly return unto thee, ac- 
cording to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah, thy wife, shall have a 
son.' And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him." 

And she laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old, 
shall I have pleasure, my lord being also old? 

And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh? 
. . . Is anything too hard for the Lord?" 

Then Sarah denied having laughed, "And he said, 'Nay, but 
thou didst laugh.' " 

"O Lord of God, Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the 
earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is noth- 
ing too hard for thee." 

"God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abra- 
ham." 

"With God all things are possible." 

"And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom; 
and Abraham went with them to bring them on their way." This 
going a short distance with those starting on a journey seems to 
have been customary in olden times, as we have several instances 
of it in the Bible. Paul and others being often brought on their 
way by the church. 

I would that I could do justice to the incident which follows: 
As the four, the Lord, the two angels and Abraham, went on their 
way toward Sodom, "the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham 
that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a 
great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be 
blessed in him?" 

This was the Lord Jesus Who was talking and Who had ap- 
peared so many times to Abraham, for Jesus Himself said while 
here upon earth, "No man hath seen God at any time." 



THE HOME IN THE TENT. 91 

And now He gives us a reason for taking Abraham into His con- 
fidence, a beautiful truth concerning him: 

"For I know him, that he will command his children and his 
household after him; and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do 
justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that 
which he hath spoken of him." 

Did you ever think of it, that while there are many great men, 
there are very few great fathers, and yet of all the beantiful char- 
acteristics of Abraham, there is none more remarkable than this: 
That he commanded his children and his household after him. 

It was because of this that the Lord could "bring upon him 
that which he had spoken." 

"And ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 

"Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give 
delight unto thy soul." 

Why is it that so many righteous people, ministers and church 
members, have children who are a reproach to them? Is it because 
they are hypocrites, as some think? Nay, but because they have 
neglected this one rule, which Joshua laid down for himself: "As 
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 

"And these words which I command thee this day shall be in 
thine heart; And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy chil- 
dren." 

Look at Eli and Samuel and King David! Was their home life 
what it should be? Did they command their children after them? 

But Abraham receives his reward, and the Lord confides in him, 
and as they walk, He tells him of the great wickedness of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, and that He is going down to see if it is "altogether 
according to the cry of it." 

And as the two angels turn toward Sodom, the Lord remained, 
while Abraham stood yet before him and pleaded for the tAvo 
wicked cities of the plain. 

His cry was, "Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the 
wicked?" 

And the Lord promised him that if there were fifty or forty or 



92 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

thirty or twenty, or even ten righteous persons within Sodom, that 
He would not destroy it for their sakes. 

"And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left communing 
with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place." 

"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy Sister Sodom, pride, ful- 
ness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her 
daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and 
needy." 

"And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain 
that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of 
the overthrow." 

Now after his long residence in the plains of Mamre, Abraham 
journeyed on again. It must have been with feelings of sadness 
that he left this resting place in his pilgrimage, where God had 
appeared to him so many times, and had so wonderfully blessed 
him. At Mamre Ishmael was born ; the vision of the lamp of fire 
was given him and he received the visit of the angels. And years 
after Isaac came here to die. 

"At Gerar Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister, and 
Abimelech, King of Gerar, sent and took Sarah." 

But God appeared unto Abimelech and told him to restore 
Sarah unto her husband. And when Abimelech asked Abraham 
why he had deceived him, Abraham said, "Because I thought 
surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will slay me for 
my wife's sake. 

And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my 
father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my 
wife. 

And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my 
father's house that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou 
shalt shew unto me. At every place whither we shall come, say of 
me, 'He is my brother.' " 

And Abimelech, because of the words which God had spoken 
unto him, made presents of sheep and oxen and men servants and 
maid servants unto Abraham, and restored unto him his wife. 



HMwT-wiWSBiiSii 1 




ABRAHAM SENDING AWAY HAGAR AND ISHMAEL. 



THE HOME IN THE TENT. 95 

"And Abimelech said, 'Behold, my land is before thee; dwell 
where it pleaseth thee.' 

"And unto Sarah he said, 'Behold, I have given thy brother a 
thousand pieces of silver. Behold, he is to thee a covering* of the 
eyes.' . . . 

Thus was she reproved. 

So Abraham prayed unto God, and God healed Abimelech and 
his wife and his maid servants, and they bare children. 

For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of 
Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife." 

Now they dwelt at Beer-sheba, As the Lord had. spoken, Sarah 
bore Abraham a son when he was a hundred years old. And he 
called his name Isaac, and as the Lord had commanded he circum- 
cised his son at eight days old. 

"And Sarah said God hath made me to laugh, so that all who 
hear me will laugh with me." 

"Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with 
singing." 

"Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into sing- 
ing, and cry aloud." 

"And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a 
great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 

And Sarah saw Ishmael, the son of Hagar, mocking." 

"But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him 
that was born after the spirit, even so it is now." 

Wherefore Sarah "said unto Abraham, 'Cast out this bond- 
woman and her son; for the son of this bond-woman shall not be 
heir with my son, even with Isaac' 

And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because 
of his son." 

But God comforted Abraham and told him to hearken unto 
Sarah's voice, "for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 

And also of the son of the bond-woman will I make a nation, 
because he is thy seed." 

Early the next morning Abraham put bread and a bottle of 



96 BIBLE HOME 8 AND FAMILIES. 

water on Ha gar's shoulder, and sent her away with her child, who 
was now a lad of fourteen years. 

"And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son 
forever." 

I have no doubt that Abraham's heart still yearned after this 
son of the flesh. In this world we must bear the results of our 
actions, even though the actions are forgiven. 

Hagar wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba, until the 
water was spent in the bottle, and then she laid Ishmael under a 
tree and sat down a good way off, expecting that he would die from 
heat and thirst. And she lifted up her voice and wept. 

And the angel of the Lord spoke to her and said, " 'Fear not, for 
God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is, 

'Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand, for I will 
make him a great nation.' 

And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. 

And God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wil- 
derness and became an archer. . . . 

And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt." 

Now Abraham still abode at Beer-sheba in the land of Gerar, 
and Abimelech, the king, and Phichol, the chief captain of his host, 
said unto Abraham, "God is with thee in all that thou doest." 

How wonderful to so live that even the heathen shall acknowl- 
edge the presence and the power of our God! 

Now Abimelech desired to enter into an agreement with Abra- 
ham that he should deal truly with him and his son and with his 
son's son, as he had dealt with him. 

"And Abraham said I will swear." Then he "reproved Abime- 
lech because of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had vio- 
lently taken away." 

"And Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them unto 
Abimelech, and both of them made a covenant. 

"And Abraham set seven ewe lambs by themselves . . . 
that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. 
This well was called Beer-sheba, the well of the oath." 

Then Abimelech returned to his home, "and Abraham planted 



THE HOME IN THE TEXT. 97 

a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, 
the ever-lasting God. ,? Wherever the tent was pitched, there was 
raised an altar unto the Lord. 

"And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days — 
Beer-sheba. 

"And it came to pass, after these things, that God did tempt 
Abraham," or let us, like St. Peter, call it rather a trial of faith 
than a temptation. 

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; 
for God cannot be tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man." 

Now when God called Abraham, he answered, as he had 
throughout his whole life, "Behold, here am I." 

"And he said, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom 
thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him for 
a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell 
thee of." 

When Abraham received this command, he did not even plead 
with God, as he had for Sodom and Gomorrah. 

"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and 
he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten 
son." 

"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his 
ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac, his son, 
and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went 
unto the place of which God had told him." 

It was not until the third day that they came in sight of the 
place. 

"Then Abraham said unto his young men, 'Abide ye here with 
the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come 
again to you.' 

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it 
upon Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; 
and they went both of them together." 

"And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the 
place of skull.' 1 



98 



BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 



Isaac was now a grown man, over twenty years of age, although 
he still seemed but a lad to his father. 

"And Isaac spake unto Abraham, his father, and said: 'My 
father, 7 and he said, 'Here am I, my son.' And he said, 'Behold 
the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?' 

And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide himself a lamb 
for a burnt offering;' so they went both of them together." 

This is a beautiful picture of a man who commanded his house- 
hold, so that they kept the way of the Lord, also of a son who hon- 
ored his father. 

When they came to the mount, Abraham built an altar, "and 
laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on 
the altar upon the wood." 

Isaac was a willing sacrifice and made no resistance as his fa- 
ther "stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son." 

"Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices 
as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold to obey is better than 
sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." 

"Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten 
thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my trans- 
gression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? . . . And 
what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love 
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" 

As Abraham stood with the knife uplifted ready to obey God at 
such a fearful cost, the angel of the Lord called to him out of heav- 
en and said, "Abraham, Abraham;" and he said, "Here am I." 

"And he said, 'Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou 
anything to him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing 
that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.' " 

Abraham came as near to God in this act of obedient sacrifice 
as is possible for mortal man. 

"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son." 

"Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life 
for his friends," 

Abraham in laying down Isaac gave that which was dearer to 
him than his own life. 



l-«fC. 




ABRAHAM OFFERING UP ISAAC. 



THE HOME IN TILE TENT. 101 

"Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had 
offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works 
was faith made perfect? 

And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed 
God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was 
called the Friend of God." 

"And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold be- 
hind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. 

And Abraham offered up the ram instead of Isaac. 

And Abraham called the name of that place, Jehovah-jireh, 
which means the Lord will provide. 

And now God honored Abraham with words which we find 
nowhere else in the Bible. "By myself have I sworn, saith the 
Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld 
thy son, thine only son; 

That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will 
multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which 
is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his ene- 
mies; 

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed ; 
because thou hast obeyed my voice." 

"For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could 
swear by no greater, he sware by himself." 

This mountain in the land of Moriah, where Abraham offered 
Isaac, is supposed to be the place where many hundreds of years 
later the Lord appeared unto David, and where Solomon built the 
temple; in Mount Moriah, in Jerusalem. 

In possessing Jerusalem, his seed possessed "the gate of his 



enemies," 



Twelve years after this wonderful event just narrated, Sarah 
died, being one hundred and twenty-seven years old. She had lived 
to see many happy years with her dearly loved son Isaac. Few 
women are more highly honored, more truly loved or more deeply 
mourned by husband and son than was Sarah, the princess; al- 



102 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

though she did not live to see her grandchildren around her. Sarah 
died in Hebron in the land of Canaan — at Mamre. 

"And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. 
And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the 
sons of Heth, saying, 'I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; 
give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury 
my dead out of my sight." 

And they answered, "Hear us, my lord: Thou art a mighty 
prince among us; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead." 

So for four hundred shekels of silver Abraham bought "the field 
of Ephrom, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the 
field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were 
in the field, that were in the border round about." 

Here Abraham buried Sarah his wife, and this burial place, 
which Abraham bought, was the only ground in Canaan which he 
ever owned, yet he looked forward to the day when the whole land 
should belong to his children. 



Xlbe Ibome in Canaan. 



CHAPTER VI. 

tlfye ^ome in (Lanaart. 

Of LTHOUGH Isaac was born to his mother in her old age, 
/Jk yet were they blessed with thirty-seven years of mutual 
£ \ love and fellowship. 

v-» From the sacred narrative Ave have a beautiful im- 
pression of pleasant days of peace and plenty spent together by this 
mother and son. 

What more natural than that after her death, life to Isaac 
should be lonely and desolate. 

Sarah was the wife of Abraham's youth, they having lived to- 
gether for over a hundred years, and her queenly love and care had 
been to him a priceless benediction. She was, indeed, a royal com- 
panion for "the friend of God." 

Isaac's miraculous birth and beautiful, peaceful nature had 
so filled her hungry, childless heart that her life, after his coming, 
had been one song of praise to God. 

But now all this was over, however much they might mourn for 
her; they must gather up the broken threads, and go on the re- 
mainder of their earthly pilgrimage without her. Three years after 
her death Abraham, now well stricken in age, felt that Isaac- 
should have a wife, and yet he could not bear to have him marry 
one of the Canaanitish women around them. 

"Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, thy daughter 
shalt thou not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take 
unto thy son." 

' So Abraham called to him his old and trusted servant, Eliezer 
of Damascus, into whose hands he had given all things, and he said, 
"Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh; and I will make thee 
swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, 
that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the 
Canaanites among whom I dwell; but thou shalt go unto my coun- 
try, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac." 

105 




106 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

In those days, taking an oath was a more solemn affair than 
now, for writing was not known, and all business transactions were 
by word of mouth. 

There were two forms of oaths; lifting up the hands unto heaven 
or putting the hand under the thigh. 

An oath was so binding and so solemn that it was not taken 
hastily. Even Eliezer was unwilling to take the oath, which 
Abraham desired, until he was quite sure that he could perform 
this difficult mission. 

He thought of it all; the long journey of over six hundred miles, 
his ignorance of the country, and of the family to which Abraham 
wished to send him. 

We remember that sixty years before, when Abraham left 
Haran, where he had lived for two years, he had a brother, Nahor, 
who remained behind him. 

In all these years he had heard from him but once. 

Some traveler, passing through Beer-sheba, had told him that 
his brother Nahor's wife, Milcah, had borne him eight sons, and 
that one of these sons, Bethuel, had a daughter, Rebekah; but 
that was fifteen years before, and many changes can take place in 
that time. 

So Eliezer said, suppose I find a woman of thy kindred, and she 
will not come with me, shall I return and take Isaac into that coun- 
try to find a wife for himself? 

"And Abraham said unto him, 'Beware thou that thou bring 
not my son thither again.' " 

He remembered how the word of the Lord had come to him at 
Haran, saying, "G t thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, 
and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee," 
and Abraham wa s unwilling to let Isaac go so many hundred miles 
away from the land which God had promised to his children for a 
possession. 

How well to be in the way of the blessing! 

Then Abraham encouraged the heart of Eliezer with these 
beautiful words: "The Lord God of heaven, which took me from 
my father's house, and from my kindred, and which spake unto 



THE HOME IN CANAAN. 107 

me, and that sware unto me, saying, 'Unto thy seed will I give this 
land;' he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a 
wife unto my son from thence." 

"Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, 
and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared." 

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister 
for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" 

Abraham also reassured Eliezer by telling him that if the 
woman refused to come with him, he should be clear from his oath, 
and he cautioned him again not to take Isaac, under any circum- 
stances, into Mesopotamia. 

Then Eliezer put his hand under Abraham's thigh and swore 
to him, and straightway prepared for his journey to Haran. 

Eliezer being steward of Abraham's house, all things of his 
master's were under his hand. To this thought we must add an- 
other, "And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things . . 
he had given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men 
servants and maid servants, and camels and asses." 

Therefore, how great were the preparations which Eliezer made 
for his important undertaking! Abraham was now a mighty 
prince in Canaan, and Isaac was his sole heir: It was meet that 
such a caravan should appear at Haran as w^ould be in keeping 
with their wealth and station. 

"Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. . . . His seed 
shall be mighty in the earth. . . . Wealth and riches shall be in 
his house." 

"The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich; he added no sorrow 
with it." 

So Eliezer, who delighted to honor his master, loaded his cam- 
els with everything that might be needed by the way, or that could 
further his undertaking when he should arrive at his journey's end. 

I have no doubt that Isaac and his father watched the caravan 
off with many anxious thoughts, for its return meant so many 
changes to them. 

Now it was evening when Eliezer arrived with his caravan, at 



108 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

the gates of the city of Haran; and he alighted, and made his cam- 
els kneel down by a well, just as the women came out to draw 
water. And as he saw them, he lifted up this earnest prayer: "O 
Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed 
this day and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I 
stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of 
the city come out to draw water; and let it come to pass that the 
damsel to whom I shall say, 'Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, 
that I may drink/ and she shall say: 'Drink, and I will give thy 
camels drink also'; let the same be she that thou hast appointed 
for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast 
shewed kindness unto my master." 

And immediately Rebekah, Bethuel's daughter, the grand- 
daughter of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her pitcher 
upon her shoulder. 

Now Rebekah was a very beautiful girl, and as she came up 
from the well with her pitcher filled with water, Eliezer ran to 
meet her, and asked her for a drink, and she quickly let down her 
pitcher and held it in her hand while he drank, and said, "Drink 
my lord . . . And I will draw water for thy camels also !" 

Then she threw the water that was left in her pitcher into the 
trough, and ran again unto the well . . . "and drew water 
for all his camels." 

And Eliezer silently wondered whether or not this was the 
answer to his prayer. 

And "as the camels had done drinking," he gave Rebekah a 
golden jewel for her forehead of half a shekel weight, and two 
bracelets of ten shekels weight of gold. 

And said, "Whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee, 
is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge?" 

And when she answered: "I am the daughter of Bethuel; there 
is plenty of room for thee in my father's house, and also straw and 
provender for thy camels," this faithful old servant "bowed down 
his head and worshiped the Lord." 

Think of him so many hundreds of miles away from his home, 
while weary and worn with travel, so loyal to his master, and so 



mm mism^ t^tm 








"-TrTTaaai 



ABRAHAM'S SERVANT AND REBECCA AT THE WELL. 



THE HOME IN CANAAN. Ill 

grateful to his master's God, that he stopped outside the gate and 
offered up this beautiful prayer: "Blessed be the Lord God of my 
master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his 
mercy and truth; I being in the way, the Lord led me to my master's 
brethren." 

Surely, as for Abraham and his house they served the Lord. 

And Rebekah ran home and told all that had happened, to her 
mother and the household; and shewed them the gold bracelets and 
jewel; and Laban, her brother, ran out to Eliezer at the well and 
said, "Come in, thou blessed of the lord; wherefore standest thou 
without? for I have prepared the house and room for the camels." 

And Laban brought Eliezer and his servants into the house 
and gave them water to wash their feet; and he ungirded the cam- 
els and fed them. 

Then meat was set before them, but Eliezer refused to eat until 
he had told them his errand. And they said, "Speak on." 

And Eliezer told all his wonderful story; how the Lord had 
led him and blessed him, and Laban and his father, Bethuel, said, 
"The thing proceedeth from the Lord; we cannot speak unto thee 
bad or good. 

Behold, Kebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her 
be thy master's son's wife as the Lord hath spoken." . 

And Eliezer "worshiped the Lord, bowing himself to the 
earth.'' 

And he brought forth from his caravan "jewels of silver and 
jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah; he gave 
also precious things to her mother and her brother," Laban. 

Then he and his servants ate their supper and tarried all night, 
and in the morning Eliezer wished to leave them, but Rebekak's 
mother and brother said, Let her abide with us for ten months or a 
year, and after that we will let her go with you. 

But Eliezer said, "Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath pros- 
pered my way." 

"And they said, 'We will call the damsel, and enquire at her 
mouth.' " 



112 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

"And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, 'Wilt thou go 
with this man?' And she said, 'I will go.' " 

As we read these few simple words do we realize the tragedy 
wrapped up in them? Rebekah left her home, her father, mother 
and brother for a stranger, in a strange land; she gave up all things 
that were dear to her, and she never again saw home or mother . 

So they went away, Rebekah and Deborah, her nurse, and 
Eliezer and his men. 

"And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, 'Thou art our 
sister; be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy 
seed possess the gate of those which hate them.' " 

And this blessing was granted unto her. Look abroad over 
the earth, and you will see the thousands of millions of her chil- 
dren, and they did possess Jerusalem, the gate of her enemies, as 
God promised they should do, and according to the prophecies they 
will possess it again. 

It was with a grateful heart that Eliezer turned his camels' 
heads homeward, having added Rebekah and Deborah and her 
damsels to his party. This was probably Rebekah's first trip away 
from home, and I have no doubt she enjoyed the novelty and ex- 
citement of the situation; where is the young girl who would not? 

It was a journey of months, and she must at times have been 
very weary, yet she was treated like a princess, with servants to 
wait upon her and everything provided for her comfort. Even to 
modern maidens this love story of Rebekah's, so different from the 
love stories of to-day, is full of romance. It is pleasant to picture 
this beautiful, oriental girl, in her lofty seat upon the back of the 
patient camel, dreaming of the future, and wondering over and 
over again how Isaac, her unknown lover, looked, and if she should 
be happy in that far away home which awaited her. 

And it is very sweet to all of us to know that the next few 
verses prove beyond a doubt that she never regretted her choice. 

As they went on their way "Isaac came from the well, Lahai- 
roi" (where, the Lord spoke so beautifully to Hagar), "for he dwelt 
in the south country," Beer-sheba, his home, for one hundred and 
eighty years. 



THE HOME IN C AX A AX. 113 

••And it was eventide and Isaac went out in the field to medi- 
tate/' and to pray. 

Could any words describe better the character of Isaac, the man 
uf peace? 

"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth: but 
thou shalt meditate therein day and night . . . for then thou 
shalt make thy way prosperous, and thon shalt have good success." 

"But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he 
meditate day and night." 

••I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy 
wavs." 

'T will meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings." 

"I remember the days of old: I meditate on all thy works: I 
muse on the work of thy hands." 

"And Isaac lifted up his eyes, and saw. and behold, the camels 
were coming. 

And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she 
lighted off the camel." 

For she had questioned Eliezer, and he had told her that the 
man coming to meet them was his master. 

"Therefore she took a vail and covered herself. 

And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. 

And Isaac brought her unto his mother Sarah's tent and took 
Eebekah and she became his wife; and he loved her; and Isaac 
was comforted after his mother's death." 

Xow Abraham did not live long with Isaac and Rebekah, for 
in about a year he married Keturah. and she bore six sons unto 
him, but neither these sons nor Ishmael were the heirs of Abra- 
ham. 

"For Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.*' But unto the 
s«»ns of Keturah "he gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac, 
his son. while he yet lived." 

Now, although Abraham was so well pleased that Isaac had 
married a daughter of his people, and that Sarah's tent was again 
occupied, his faith was once more tested. He was assured that 



114 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

in Isaac's seed the nations of the earth should bo blessed, yet for 
twenty years they had no children. 

But when Isaac's prayers wore heard, and Rebekah bore twin 
boys, what a day of rejoicing it must have boon! 

Esau, the older, was strong and Large and rod all over like a 
hairy garment, bu1 Jacob, (ho younger, was a white, smooth- 
skinned baby. 

When Rebekah had enquired of the Lord concerning them, lie 
had told her thai "the elder should scare the younger." 

Isaac was sixty years of age when I hose boys were born. Any 
one can toll by the short description of them that Esau was frank- 
hearted and generous, bold and daring, and given to a wild life in 
the open air, and because of Isaac's quiet retiring nature, he de- 
lighted in this manly son; but Jacob's nature was gentle and home- 
loving, much like his father's, but alas, that in it was also much of 
his mother's ami Ins Uncle Laban's crafty, worldly wisdom. 

Now these boys had the example of their grandfather Abra- 
ham's saintly life before them for fifteen years, but it was Jacob 
who seemed to profit by it, for he grew up with the longing in his 
heart for the blessing which should be given to his elder brother. 

At the age of one hundred and seventy-live years Abraham 
died; "an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his peo- 
ple. 

"And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him beside his dearly 
loved wife Sarah, in the cave of Machpolah, which he had bought 
from the sons of I loth.'' 

Tims died this man of whom Nehemiah said, God "found his 
heart faithful." 

"And it came to pass after the death of Abraham that God 
blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac d welt by the well Lahai-roi. . . . 
And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the 
field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents." 

This description of Jacob, short as it is, means a great deal, and 
will explain many things in regard to his character which are hard 
to understand, "A plain man," if you will turn to the references 
yon will see (hat (his might be translated a perfect man. Now we 




ESAU SELLING HIS BIRTHRIGHT FOR POTTAGE. 



THE HOME IN CANAAN. 117 

know that the life of Jacob was very far from perfect; but neither 
was Abraham's life perfect; "Man looketh on the outward appear- 
ance, but God looketh on the heart." Jacob was a very patient 
man, like Job, and his desire was toward God. This explains why 
God chose him for the blessing instead of his more attractive 
brother Esau. 

His dwelling was in tents, which better befitted the heir of the 
promises, for he was a sojourner in Canaan, "as in a strange coun- 
try." 

"And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison, but 
Rebekah loved Jacob." This unwise preference, plainly mani- 
fested, brought trouble into the home of peace-loving Isaac, as we 
shall see. 

One day Esau came home from the field tired and faint, just 
as Jacob made some pottage of red lentiles, and Esau said, "Feed 
me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint; there- 
fore was his name called Edom, which means red, and his descend- 
ants were alwavs called Edomites." 

Now Jacob, thinking ever of his brother's much coveted pos- 
session, said, "Sell me this day thy birthright." "And Esau said, 
'Behold, I am at the point of death, and what profit shall this 
birthright do me?' " 

And Jacob made him swear that he would relinquish all claim 
to the birthright and then he gave him bread and pottage of 
lentiles, and "Esau ate and drank, and rose up and went his way; 
thus did Esau despise his birthright." 

"Hath a man no better thing under the sun than to eat and 
drink?" 

"What advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and 
drink; for to-morrow we die." 

"Look diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God . 
as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright." 

Shortly after this event there was a famine in the land of 
Canaan, as there had been, over a hundred years before, when 
Abraham first came to sojourn there. And Isaac went unto Gerar, 
about twenty miles west of Beer-sheba, the land of Abimelech, the 



118 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

King of the Philistines, and here the Lord appeared unto him for 
the first time. 

The Lord told him not to go down into Egypt, but to remain 
where he was; and He promised him that He would perform the 
oath which He sware unto Abraham, "I will make thy seed to mul- 
tiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these 
countries, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
blessed." 

And Isaac dwelt in Gerar for a few months. 

Did you ever notice how the sins as well as the virtues of 
parents are inherited by their children? 

Here was Isaac, great in faith, pure in heart, built up in the 
promises, just as his father Abraham had been, and yet we see him 
stooping to the same small deceit toward another Abimelech, of 
which his father had once been guilty. He thought to pass Eebekah 
off as his sister, but Abimelech saw him sporting with her in the 
field, and he sent for him and said, "Behold of a surety, she is thy 
wife," and timid Isaac admitted that he had called her his sister, 
lest he should die for her. 

Then Abimelech reproved him, and commanded his men that 
every kindness should be shown to Isaac, for he remembered the 
covenant which had been made with Abraham. 

"And Isaac became very great. . . . "He had flocks and 
herds and great store of servants; and the Philistines envied him." 
And filled up the wells, which his father's servants had digged, 
with earth, for you know in that country digging a well establishes 
a claim to the land. 

So when Abimelech asked Isaac to go from them, for he was 
"much mightier" than them, Isaac pitched his tent in the valley. 

Now, Isaac was of such a peaceful nature that when his ser- 
vants found a well of springing water and the herdman of Gerar 
strove for it, he gave it up to them. Twice after this he gave up 
the wells which his servants dug. The same night that he removed 
from thence to Beer-sheba, the Lord appeared to him, the second 
time, and he built an altar there. 

Now Abimelech and his chief captain, Phichol, came unto 



THE HOME IN XJANAAN. 119 

him, as they had unto Abraham, and wanted to enter into friendly 
relations with him. 

Tkev said, "We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee. . . . 
Thou art now the blessed of the Lord." 

"And Isaac made them a feast, . . . and they sware one to 
another." 

"And Isaac sent tliem away in peace;" and the well that his 
servants found there he called Shebah. Therefore, the name of the 
city is Beer-sheba, 

Isaac's sons were now forty years old, and at this age Esau mar- 
ried two wives — Judith and Bashemath — whose fathers were llit- 
tites. 

You remember, it was of these Hittites, or children of Heth, 
that Abraham bought the field and the cave for a burial ground for 
Sarah. 

These w T ives, of course, were heathen, and we are told that they 
"were a great grief of mind to Esau's father and mother." 

An interval of thirty-six years occurs between the event of 
Esau's marriage to the heathen women and the next one which is 
recorded, but we know from all that occurred before and from 
what follows after, that they are years in which Isaac is prevented 
from securing the blessing for either son because of his unfair 
partiality for Esau. Isaac knew when Rebekah Avent to enquire 
of the Lord, that He had told her that "The elder should serve the 
younger," yet he coveted the blessing for Esau, and determined to 
secure it to him, even though he knew that his children, with 
heathen mothers, brought up in the midst of idolatrous worship, 
were not fitted for the great future which God intended for the 
heirs of the blessing. Now, although Isaac was remiss in his duty, 
this does not excuse Rebekah and Jacob for their part in the fol- 
lowing transaction. The blessing would have been given, where 
it belonged, without any deception on their part. 

It came to pass, when Isaac was one hundred and thirty-six 
years old, "and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he 
called Esau, his elder son, and said unto him, 'My son,' and he said 
unto him, 'Behold, here am L' " 



120 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

Then Isaac told him that he was now old, and "knew not the 
day of his death," and he wished him to take his quiver and his 
bow out into the field and hunt him some venison, and prepare 
him savoury meat, such as he loved, that he might bless him before 
he died. 

And Kebekah heard this, and when Esau was gone, she called 
Jacob to her and told him all. 

Then she bade him go to the flock and bring her two kids of the 
goats, from which she would prepare just such meat as his father 
loved, and he should take it to him, that he might bless him before 
he died. 

Jacob was rather timid about doing this> not because he 
thought it was wrong, but for fear the deceit might be discovered. 
He said, "Esau is a hairy man, while I am a smooth man." If my 
father should find me out, "I shall bring a curse upon me and not 
a blessing." 

"And his mother said, 'Upon me be thy curse, my son.' " 

So Jacob obeyed her voice, and she prepared the savoury meat, 
and took of Esau's clothes, which were in the house, and put them 
upon Jacob. 

She also put skins of the kids upon his hands and upon his 
neck. And Jacob went unto his father and said, "My father," and 
he said, "Here am I." And he said, "Who art thou, my son?" And 
Jacob said unto his father, "I am Esau, thy first born; I have done 
according as thou badest me; arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my 
venison, that thy soul may bless me." 

Now Isaac was not quite satisfied on account of Jacob's voice, 
but, as he felt his hairy hands, he blessed him, and said "Art thou 
my very son Esau?" And he said, "I am." 

Then he ate of the venison and drank of the wine, and told 
Jacob to kiss him, and when he smelled the raiment, he said, "See, 
the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath 
blessed. 

Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness 
of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. 

Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee; be lord 



THE HOME IN Ci.VA.iT. 12.J 

over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. 
Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that 
blesseth thee." 

It is not wonderful that both sons should have desired this rich 
blessing, from a father who had power with God, and could call 
down np<m them such treasures as the--. 

But we know that much of the joy of receiving it was taken 
from Jacob because of the fear of detection, and that his mother 
trembled for him as she watched for Esau's return. And they 
might well be uneasv. for Jacob had scarcely left his father's 
presence when Esau came from the field; he also prepared the 
savoury meat, which his father loved, and brought it to him. 

-And Isaac, his father, said unto him, 'Who art thou?' And he 
said, 'I am thy son, thy first born, Esau." " 

And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, 'Who?' 'Where 
is he that hath taken venison and brought it to me and I have eaten 
of all before thou earnest, and have blessed him? Yea and he shall 
be blessed." 

And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with 
a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, 'Bless 
me, even me also, O my father/ 

And he said 'thy brother came with snbtilty, and hath taken 
away thy blessing.' " 

How well this illustrates Isaac's gentle nature: he knew that 
he had been deceived, and that Rebekah must have helped Jacob 
in his deception. Yet he had no thought of upbraiding them; he 
accepted the inevitable, even though his lifelong wish and plan was 
frustrated by it. 

Then Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? for he hath 
supplanted me these two times; he took away my birthright, and 
behold now he hath taken away my blessing." 

Esau seems to have forgotten that it was his own impatient 
nature which had induced him to sell his birthright; that no one 
could have taken that away from him. 

And now he said unto his father, "Hast thou not reserved a 
blessing for me?" 



124 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

And Isaac answered, "Behold, I have made him thy lord, and 
all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn 
and wine have I sustained him; and what shall I do now unto thee, 
my son?" 

And Esau said, "Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless 
me, even me, also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice and 
wept." 

"For we know that afterward when he would have inherited 
the blessing he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, 
though he sought it carefully with tears." It was a sad trial to 
gentle, loving Isaac to see his strong, fearless, and yet many times 
careless and indifferent son broken down with grief like this, so, 
although he could not give him the desired blessing, he did his 
best to comfort him with these words : "Behold, thy dwelling shall 
be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; 
and by thy sword shalt thou live and shalt serve thy brother; and 
it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that 
thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck." 

"And shalt serve thy brother" — These words were very hard 
for Esau to bear; yet they were fulfilled, in King David's time. 

"And he put garrisons in Edom; and all they of Edom became 
David's servants." 

But the latter part — "thou shalt break his yoke from off thy 
neck" — was also fulfilled in the time of King Joram. "In his days 
Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king 
over themselves." 

And Esau hated Jacob, because of these words of his father's, 
and he said that it would not be long until his father's death, and 
then he should kill Jacob. 

How truly this vain threat of Esau's proves to us that we know 
not the day of one's death, for, although Isaac was blind and feeble, 
he lived for forty-four years after this. But Bebekah, upon hear- 
ing of these words of her elder son, was very much frightened, and 
called Jacob to her and told him that Esau proposed to kill him. 

"Now, therefore, my son. . . Arise, flee thou to Laban, my 
brother, to Haran, and tarry with him a few days, until thy 



THE HOME IN CANAAN. 125 

brother's fury turn away . . . and he forget that which thou 
hast done to him; then I will send and fetch thee from thence. 
Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?" Rebekah 
already began to suffer for her deceit; and the "few days" which 
she proposed her much loved Jacob should be absent proved to be 
over twenty years. Alas that she never saAV his face again! 

Thirty years of his life was he separated from his father, and 
all because they had relied upon their human wisdom, instead of 
on the promises of God. 

Rebekah, intent upon Jacob's welfare, said to Isaac: "I am 
weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob take 
a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the 
daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?" 

Then Isaac, ever considerate of Rebekah's wishes, called Jacob 
to him and blessed him again, and charged him not to take a wife 
of the Canaanites, but to go to Padan-Aram, to his grandfather's 
house — the house of Bethuel, his mother's father — and take a wife 
of the daughters of Laban, his mother's brother. 

"And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and 
multiply thee, that thou may est be a multitude of people. 

And give thee the blessing of Abraham; to thee and to thy seed 
with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a 
stranger, which God gave unto Abraham." 

You see Isaac at last recognized the fact that Jacob was the 
heir to the promises, and at the late age of seventy-six years, he 
sent him away to fulfill his destiny. 

I have no doubt that as he started off to go to the home of her 
childhood, Rebekah thought how different had been her coming, 
nearly a hundred years before. She must have regretted the chain 
of circumstances which made it necessary for him to leave his 
father's home and the land of his birth, in this hast} 7 , friendless 
sort of way — on foot and unattended. As she watched his solitary 
figure fade into the distance, in imagination she saw a train of 
camels come slowly into view. On the back of one was seated a 
beautiful, dark-eyed maiden, and there, coming to welcome her, 
was her future lord ; he who had been for nearly a century the gen- 



126 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

tie, loving husband of the beautiful woman. As the record of Re- 
bekah's life is closed for us, we see her for the last time with her 
eyes filled with tears. We know nothing of her death — we only 
know that she was buried in the cave of Machpelah, with Abraham 
and Sarah. 

When Esau saw that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, 
and was gone to Padan-Aram, he remembered their charge to Jacob 
that he should not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, so he 
took another wife — Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, the grand- 
daughter of Abraham. 

"And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba and went toward 
Haran." 

"And Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for 
a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep." 



TLbe Ibome of tbe Sbepberb. 




JACOB'S VISION OF THE ANGELS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Cfyc ^ome of tfye Sfyepfyerb. 

*7T XD Jacob plodded on his weary way until the sun was set. 
ly The darkness gathered fast, and the gloom of night settled 
£ \ around him. As the stars came out one by one, they seemed 
x-,to him to have lost their wonted warnith and friendliness, 
since last he looked at them from the door of the tent which shel- 
tered his warm-hearted mother and his gentle, patient father. 

He had never before realized what life would be without their 
love and care, and he felt it to be a hard fate that had sent him 
from them on this lonely, toilsome pilgrimage. 

As the night closed in around him, he took of the stones for his 
pillows, "and he dreamed." 

"In a dream, in the vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth 
upon man . . . then he (the Lord) openeth the ears of men, and 
sealeth their instruction. " 

This was what God did to this timid, deceitful, yet patient, God- 
fearing Jacob. 

In this lonely night, as he slept upon the ground, there came to 
him a beautiful vision of "a ladder set upon the earth, and the top 
of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending 
and descending upon it. And behold the Lord stood above it, and 
said, 'I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of 
Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy 
seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth and thou shalt 
spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to 
the south; and in thee and in thv seed shall all the families of the 
earth be blessed. 

And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places 
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I 
will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to 
thee of.' " 

This beautiful vision, with the words of promise, ratified the 

129 



130 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

blessing of Isaac, which Jacob had desired all his life, and the 
heart of the lonely man was comforted. 

"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear 
him, and delivereth them." 

It is beautiful to know that in His work here upon earth, the 
Lord is attended by numerous angels, and spirits, who are sent 
here and there and everywhere to fulfill His commands. 

"Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do 
his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word." 

"Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do 
his pleasure." 

"Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand 
times ten thousands stood before him." And we, too, shall be add- 
ed to this innumerable throng, if only we are "faithful unto death." 

This little marrow sphere, in which we are now so busy, will 
widen out until we shall be able to comprehend, and enter in to 
the work of the universe. 

This night spent with God and His wonderful host made a new 
man out of Jacob; he arose from his stony pillows with the fear 
of God in his heart instead of the fear of man. 

And he took the stone and poured oil upon the top of it, and set 
it up for a pillar, and he called that place Bethel (the house of 
God), but the name of the city was called Luz at the first. 

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, 'If God will be with me, and 
will keep me in the way that I go and will give me bread to eat, 
and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house 
in peace, then shall the Lord be my God.' " 

It was here that Jacob originated the system of tithing, for he 
added to his vow these words, "And of all that thou shalt give me, 
I will surely give the tenth unto thee." It seems strange that 
Jacob, fleeing from Esau, should have slept that first night under 
the very sliadow of his grandfather Abraham's altar, Bethel. 

After this Jacob resumed his journey without anything of note 
happening to him, until he "came to the children of the east." 

And he rested in a field beside a well, where there were three 
flocks of sheep waiting until all the shepherds should be gathered, 



THE HOME OF THE SHEPHERD. 131 

and the stone should be rolled from the mouth of the well. And 
when Jacob found the shepherds were from Haran, he asked them 
of Laban, "and they said, 'He is well and behold, Rachel, his 
daughter, cometh with the sheep.' " 

We can haye but a faint conception of the thoughts that filled 
the heart of Jacob as he saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his 
mother's brother. 

Many, many times he had heard his dearly loyed mother talk 
of her brother Laban, the playmate and friend of her childhood; 
and of Haran, her childhood's home; he could scarcely realize that 
he was, indeed, there, and that this beautiful maiden, before him, 
was his own cousin. It was of all this that he was thinking as he 
drew near, "and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and 
watered her flock." 

And this homesick man kissed Rachel his cousin, and lifted up 
his voice and wept; he had no gold bracelets or jewels to give her, 
such as Eliezer had given to Rebekah. Although he was the son 
of a mighty prince, he came alone and unattended, foot-sore and 
weary, a fugitive from home, yet God had blessed him, and had 
brought him to his kindred. 

When Jacob told Rachel that he was Rebekah's son, she ran 
and told her father. 

This was wonderful tidings for Laban, for we have no record 
that he had ever heard of his sister since she left their father's 
home, nearly a hundred years before; so that we can well under- 

7 %s *s 7 

stand the warmth of his welcome; "he ran to meet Jacob, and em- 
braced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And 
he told Laban all these things." He opened his heart to his uncle, 
and told him all about Rebekah and Isaac and their home, and 
why he had left in such haste; and, I am sure, it was with a tremor 
in his voice and a hunger in his heart that he talked to his uncle 
and cousins of that dear father and mother and their home of 
plenty so far away. 

And Laban claimed him as his bone and flesh, and he visited 
at his uncle's house for a month, but we know from Laban's words 
that he made himself very useful, for his uncle said to him, "Be- 



132 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

cause thou art my brother (or a relative) shouldest thou therefore 
serve me for naught? Tell me what shall thy wages be?" 

As the presence of Eebekah had comforted Isaac for his moth- 
er's death, so the presence of Rachel was as mother and home and 
native land to the heart of Jacob, as his answer to Laban's ques- 
tion fully proves: "I will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy 
younger daughter." 

Leah, Laban's older daughter, "was tender eyed, but Rachel 
was beautiful and well favored," and Jacob loved her. 

It was the custom, in the time and country of Laban, for the 
father to receive a dowry for his daughter, but think of the covet- 
ousness of a father who could take for a dowry seven years' service. 
And yet we are told that " Jacob served seven years for Rachel; 
and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to 
her." 

■i At the end of the seven years' service Laban made a great mar- 
riage feast and invited to it everybody in the place. And in the 
evening he veiled Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he gave Zil- 
pah, his maid, to Leah for a handmaid. 

When Jacob upbraided Laban for deceiving him thus, his uncle 
told him that in his country the younger daughter could not be 
married before the elder, although he had been careful to say 
nothing of this custom when he agreed to give him Rachel for his 
seven years' work. Jacob, no doubt, thought of his own crafty 
scheming with Esau, and made no objection when Laban offered 
to give him Rachel also, at the close of the week's festivities, if he 
would serve him for seven years longer. 

"Many waters cannot quench love; neither can the flood drown 
it." 

"Love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, 
endureth all things." 

Thus it happened that at the close of the feast Rachel was also 
married to Jacob, and he loved her more than Leah. 

Leah was gentle and tender-eyed, and she was comforted for 
the absence of her husband's love by the children with which the 
Lord blessed her. 



THE HOME OF THE SHEPHERD. 133 

Her first four sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah. — The 
sons of Levi became the tribe which the Lord afterward set apart 
for the priesthood, and it was through Judah that the wonderful 
promise to Abraham was fulfilled, "In thy seed shall all the na- 
tions of the earth be blessed.'' 

And Rachel, being* grieved because she had no children, gave 
her handmaid, Bilhah, to Jacob to be his wife, and she bore Jacob 
two sons — Dan and Naphtali. And about the same time Leah 
gave her maid, Zilpah, to Jacob to be his wife, and she also bore 
him two sons — Gad and Asher. 

Leah's fifth son she called Issachar, and when her sixth son was 
born, "Leah said, 'God hath endued me with a good dowry, now 
will my husband dwell with me, because I have borne him six 
sons;' and she called his name Zebulun." 

And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Di- 
nah. 

And God remembered Rachel, and she bore a son and called 
his name Joseph, which means adding, for she said, "The Lord 
shall add to me another son." 

"Lo, children are the heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of 
the womb is his reward. 

"As arrows are in the hand of the mighty man, so are children 
of the youth. 

"Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them." 

Now Jacob had eleven sons and one daughter, all born within 
about seven years. 

About the time that Joseph was born Jacob's fourteen years 
of service for Rachel and Leah expired, and he desired very much 
to return to Canaan. 

So Jacob said to his uncle: "Give me my wives and my children, 
for whom I have served thee, and let me go; for thou knowest my 
service which I have done thee." 

But Laban urged him to remain with him, saying, "I have 
learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. 
. . . . Appoint me thy wages and I will give it." 

Then Jacob told Laban again how he had served him, and how 



134 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES, 

the little he had when he came unto him had increased to a multi- 
tude, "And now when shall I provide for my own house?'' 

And Laban said, "What shall I give thee?" 

Then Jacob proposed to take for his hire all the speckled and 
spotted among the goats, and the brown among the sheep. 

To this Laban consented; so he removed the speckled and 
spotted and brown from the flock, and gave them into the hands 
of his sons, and he set three days' journey between himself and 
Jacob. And Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flock. 

"And Jacob increased exceedingly and had much cattle, and 
maid servants and men servants, and camels and asses." 

And he heard Laban's sons say that it was from their father 
that he had gotten all this wealth, and he also noticed that Laban 
was not friendly toward him as he had been. 

While he was thinking of all this, the Lord spoke to him, say- 
ing, "Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and 
I will be with thee." 

"And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto 
his flock." 

How natural when there is to be a family counsel to go to some 
quiet place, where the children, with their quick ears, and the 
servants, with their ready tongues, will not be near to overhear 
what is said. 

And Jacob said, "I see your father's countenance that it is not 
towards me as heretofore . . . and ye know that with all my 
heart I have served him. And your father hath deceived me, and 
changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt 
me. . . . 

Thus God hath taken awav the cattle of vour father and given 
them to me. . 

And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, 
'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here am I.' And he said . . , 'I have 
seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, 
where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou voweclst a vow 
unto me: Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto 
the land of thy kindred.' 



THE HOME OF THE SHEPHERD. 135 

And Rachel and Leah answered . . . 'Is there yet any 
portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? . . . Are 
we not counted of him strangers? For he hath sold us and quite 
devoured also our money. 

For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that 
is ours, and our children's; now then whatsoever God hath said 
unto thee, do.' " 

"And ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath." Laban's 
unjust and covetous conduct toward his daughters had turned 
their hearts away from him. 

"Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon 
camels. And he carried away all his cattle, and all *his goods 
which he had gotten . . . for to go to Isaac, his father, in the 
land of Canaan. . . . And Jacob stole away unawares to 
Laban," and on the third day when he found out that they were 
gone, Laban went after them and overtook them after seven days' 
journey. 

But Laban was warned of God in a dream, "Take heed that 
thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad." So when Laban 
.came up with Jacob he complained that he had stolen away, and 
had not let him send him away with mirth, and had not allowed 
him to kiss his sons and daughters. 

And Laban said, "The God of your father spake unto me yester- 
night, saying take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good 
or bad. And now though thou wouldest needs be gone, because 
thou sore longest after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou 
stolen mv ^ods? . . . 

Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's 
furniture, and sat upon them." 

And Laban searched through all the tents, but found them not, 
and Jacob was angry and said, "What is my sin, that thou hast 
so hotly pursued after me? . . . 

This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy 
she goats have not cast their young (without my care) and 
the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. 

That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare 



136 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

the loss of it, of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by 
day or stolen by night. 

Thus I was; in the clay the drought consumed me, and the frost 
by night; and mine sleep departed from mine eyes." 

In these words of Jacob's the lot of a shepherd is fully described 
to us; the lonely vigils, the intense heat by day and the blighting 
cold by night. Jacob, now nearly a hundred years old, was begin- 
ning to feel this burden, which he had carried from his youth up. 

And this life of Jacob's was the common lot of all shepherds. 
Yet how God has honored them! Look down the years from 
Jacob's time and you will see David keeping his father's sheep; 
and the shepherds on Judea's hills, who heard the song of the 
angels, which has been echoed down the ages, until we still hear it. 
Then there was the Good Shepherd, who carried the lambs in His 
bosom; that same dear Shepherd who came to seek and to save 
that which was lost. 

"But none of the ransomed ever knew, 

How deep were the waters crossed, 

Nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through, 

Ere He found His sheep that wa's lost." 

And Jacob said, "Except the God of my father, the God of 
Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou 
hadst sent me away now empty." 

And Jacob and Laban made a covenant and set up stones for a 
pillar. 

And Laban called it Mizpah, a beacon or watchtower: "The 
Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from 
another." 

And they sware that they would never pass over the pillar to 
harm each other. "And early in the morning Laban rose up, and 
kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them and departed." 

Then Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. 
We do not know why they should have appeared to him at this 
time, unless it was to encourage his heart as he entered the prom- 
ised land, from which he had been so long absent. Much of the 



-- - 

•■■: ' ^ ■ ■:■■ 

■■■■■.■ 








JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL. 



THE HOME OF TEE SEEPEERD. 139 

joy of his homecoming, however, was destroyed by the remem- 
brance of the wrong which he had done to his brother, Esau, who 
was the father of the Edomites, and was become a great military 
chief. Jacob sent messengers before him to tell Esau of his ar- 
rival from his Uncle Laban's and that he had grown rich and 
wished to find grace in the eyes of his brother. 

And the messengers returned and said they had met Esau, and 
he was coming to meet Jacob with four hundred men. This greatly 
frightened Jacob, and he divided his company into bands, and 
prayed earnestly to God that He would deliver him. Reminding 
Him of His promise, Jacob said, "With my staff I passed over this 
Jordan; and now I become two bands. . . . 

And he lodged there that same night, and took of that which 
came to his hand a present for Esau, his brother." 

We get an idea of what a great pastoral chief Jacob had be- 
come by the size of this present which he sent to his brother. 

Nearly six hundred animals, — goats, sheep, camels, cows and 
asses. He divided them into droves with a space between each 
drove and instructed each servant, as he was met by his brother, 
to say, It is a present to my lord Esau; from our master Jacob; 
and behold also he is behind us. 

"A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before 
great men." 

Then Jacob said, "I will appease him w T ith the present that 
goeth before, and afterward I will see his face, peradventure he 
will accept of me." 

So he lodged in the company that night and while it was yet 
dark he arose up "and took his two wives and his two women ser- 
vants, and his eleven sons, and all that he had, and sent them 
over the ford Jabbok." 

This brook Jabbok was the border of that portion of the land 
of Canaan which was given, years afterward, to the tribes descend- 
ed from two of Leah's sons — the Reubenites and the Gadites, 

After Jacob had seen all his loved ones safely over the ford of 
the river, he remained behind for a season of prayer, and as he 



140 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

prayed alone in this extremity, "there wrestled a man with him 
until the breaking of the day." 

This man with whom Jacob wrestled was God the Son, for 
Jesus has told us that no man hath seen God the Father at any 
time. 

This experience of Jacob's is very hard to understand, unless 
we look upon this physical encounter as symbolical of that wrest- 
ling in which we must all take part, if we would be "delivered from 
the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear 
Son." 

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against prin- 
cipalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this 
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." 

With Jacob it was the wrestling of mental fervor to obtain 
a blessing. 

This test of the strength of Jacob's earnest desire for the bless- 
ing was similar to that to which his grandfather Abraham had 
been exposed, in the trial of his faith. 

Let us tread softly and speak low, for we are on holy ground, 
and only as the divine spirit is given to us can we hope to under- 
stand this wonderful revelation of the Son, as revealed to Jacob. 

And when Christ, using only human strength as matched with 
Jacob's, saw that He prevailed not, He touched the hollow of Ja- 
cob's thigh and it was out of joint. "The spirit, indeed, is willing, 
but the flesh is weak." Yet by his strength of purpose, still wrest- 
ling, and making supplication, Jacob had power with God and pre- 
vailed. 

"And he said, 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' And Jacob an- 
swered, 'I will not let thee go except thou bless me.' Then unto 
Jacob, who had overcome, was given this new name — Israel, a 
prince of God; 'for as a prince thou hast power with God and with 
men, and hast prevailed.' 

"And Jacob said, 'Tell me, I pray thee, thy name.' And he said, 
'Wherefore, is it that thou askest after my name?' " Seeing it is 
secret (or wonderful) ; "And he blessed him there." 






( "" ■ . '»■ g" ■ i. ri n i M l l ii 

' ■■• : v:^.^:/v'- ■■■■■'■' 



mqmMwwmMM 




■Hill 










MEETING OF ESAU AND JACOB. 



THE HOME OF THE SHEPHERD. 143 

To you and to me, dear reader, if we overcome shall be given a 
more wonderful name than Israel. 

"And they (the pure in heart) shall see his face; and his name 
shall be in their foreheads." 

"And I will write upon him my new name." 

"And Jacob called the name of this place Peniel; for I have 
seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 

You see this was Christ the Son, for God the Father said to 
Moses: "Thou canst not see my face and live, for there shall no 
man see me and live." 

You remember when St. John saw God the Son in his vision, he 
said, "His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And 
when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." 

The sun rose just as Jacob went on his way, halting upon his 
thigh. 

This hollow of the thigh, where the sinew shrank, is sacred unto 
the children of Israel unto this day; "Therefore they eat not of it." 

And as Jacob joined his family, where they were encamped, he 
saw Esau coming towards him, with four hundred men; and he 
supposed that they had come to fulfill Esau's threat of over twenty 
years before. "And he put the hand-maids and their children fore- 
most and Leah and her children after, and Eachel and Joseph 
hindermost." 

And he went just ahead of them, "and bowed himself to the 
ground seven times." 

And Esau ran to meet him, and kissed him and welcomed him 
back to Canaan. 

Generous hearted Esau had long since gotten over his anger, 
and was truly glad that his brother was no longer a fugitive from 
home, through fear of him. 

And he said, "Who are these with thee?" And Jacob answered, 
My wives and children, "which God hath graciously given me." 

Then the hand-maidens and their children came near and 
bowed, then came Leah and her children, and last of all came beau- 
tiful Rachel, with her dearly loved Joseph, now six years old. 



144 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

And as Esau asked after the drove which he had met Jacob told 
them, "These are to find grace in the eyes of my Lord." 

"And Esau said I have enough, my brother; keep that thou 
hast unto thyself." 

But Jacob urged him, saying, "I have seen thy face as though 
I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 

Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because 
God hath dealt graciously with me," and because I have all things. 

Thus urged, Esau accepted the present and Jacob's heart was 
very light, as he felt himself reconciled to the brother he had so 
wronged, whose anger had been like a nightmare between him 
and his father's house for twenty years. 

Now Esau desired that they should journey on together, but 
Jacob said that the little children were tender, and the flocks and 
herds would die if overdriven one day, so that he thought best for 
Esau not to wait for him. 

Then Esau desired to leave some of his company with Jacob 
to help him on his way, but Jacob said he did not need them, he 
wished only to find grace in Esau's sight, "so Esau returned that 
day, on his way unto Seir. 

We can form a more correct idea of Esau's generous spirit when 
we know that it was about this time he moved from his old home at 
Beer-sheba, where he was born, and where he had lived nearly a 
hundred years, to Mount Seir. He thus relinquished all claim to 
the birthright, leaving his father's home, and all of Isaac's posses- 
sions to Jacob, the rightful heir. 

"And Esau took his wives, and his sons and his daughters, and 
all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and 
all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan ; and went 
into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. 

For their riches were more than they might dwell together. . . . 

Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom" And he being 
a warlike chieftain, and possessing himself of the land, his sons 
were called Dukes. 

And God honored Esau, and never allowed the children of 



THE HOME OF THE SHEPHERD. 145 

Israel to disturb him or his descendants in their possession of 
Mount Seir, except once, when Isaac's prophecy was fulfilled. 

Years afterward, when the Israelites returned from Egypt, the 
Lord said to them, "As ye pass through the coast of your brethren, 
the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, . . . take ye good 
heed unto yourselves therefore; meddle not with them, for I will 
not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; be- 
cause I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession." 

"And Jacob journeyed to Suecoth and built him an house and 
made booths for his cattle." 

And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, and he pitched 
his tent before the city. And he bought this parcel of ground from 
Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money and he 
erected there an altar, or rather, rebuilt the altar which his father 
Abraham had built there. This first altar built in Canaan was 
nearly two hundred years old. 

There are many precious associations connected with Shechern. 
Many years afterward it was at this well of Jacob's that Jesus, 
being weary, sat down, and while waiting for His disciples told 
the woman of Samaria about the living water. "And the woman 
said, 'Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the 
well, and drank thereof himself, and his children and his cattle?' " 

It was here also that John baptized, near to Shalem, "Because 
there was much water there." 

When Jacob had been at Shechem seven years, a young prince 
of the country offered a great indignity to Leah's daughter Dinah, 
then a girl about fourteen years old. He afterward desired her 
hand in marriage, and offered, being very rich, to give whatever 
they might ask as a dowry. And her brothers pretended to accede 
to this proposal, saying that if all the males in Shechem would 
consent to be circumcised, they would dwell with them as one 
people. On the third day after their circumcision, Simeon and 
Levi took their swords and went boldly into the city and slew all 
the males, also Prince Shechem and his father Hamor, and took 
their sister Dinah out of their house. 



146 



BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 



They spoiled the city, taking their sheep, and oxen, and asses, 
and making captives of their wives and little ones. 

Jacob was greatly troubled by all this, and felt deeply the dis- 
grace into which these sons had brought him. 

It is only by remembering this conduct of Simeon's and Levi's 
that we can understand Jacob's words to them on his death-bed. 

"Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in 
their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto 
their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united; for in their anger 
they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a, wall. 

Cursed be their anger for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it 
was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." 

About this time, God spoke again to Jacob and told him to go 
up to Bethel, where he had made his vow, when he fled from the 
face of Esau. 

So Jacob commanded his household to put away the strange 
gods that were among them, probably the images which Rachel 
had stolen from her father, and to change their garments and be 
clean; and they would go up to Bethel and worship God, Who an- 
swered him in his distress. 

And Jacob hid the gods, and some of their jewels, under an oak, 
which is in Shechem. This was the same oak where, years after- 
ward, Joshua made a covenant with the people. 

And as they moved from Shechem "the terror of God was upon 
the cities around," so that they did not take vengeance on them for 
the dreadful deeds of Simeon and Levi. 

So Jacob came to the city of Luz, and built there an Altar-El- 
Bethel— the God of Bethel. 

And they found there Deborah, Rebekah's old nurse, who had 
left Haran with her one hundred and twenty-five years before. 

We suppose, from this, that Rebekah must have died some 
years before, as we have no other way of accounting for Deborah's 
absence from her mistress' old homestead, Beer-sheba. At any 
rate Deborah died here at Bethel, and Jacob buried her under an 
oak, which they called Allon-bachuth, the oak of weeping; from 
which we know that Jacob felt sad at the death of this old-time 



THE HOME OF THE SHEPHERD. 117 

friend, who bad known and Loved his mother, and who reminded 
him of his early home and his boyhood's days. 

Now God appeared nnto Jacob again and blessed him, and 
reminded him of his new name, Israel, which He had given him 
seven years before; He also renewed His promises to him. 

They lived at Bethel two years. Joseph was now fifteen years 
old, and Jacob was getting very anxious to see his old father Isaac, 
so they left Bethel, and when they were but a little way from 
Bethlehem, Rachel bore Jacob another son, whom she called 
Ben-oni, the son of my sorrow, but his father called him Benjamin, 
the son of the right hand. 

And Rachel died and was buried at Bethlehem. 

"And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave; that is the pillar of 
Rachel's grave unto this day." Hundreds of years afterward this 
pillar was still called Rachel's sepulchre. 

Forty years after Rachel's death, Jacob tells his son Joseph of 
this day of grief, a And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel 
died by me in the land of Canaan . . . and I buried her in the 
way of Ephrath, the same is Bethlehem." Jacob, with his great 
love for Rachel, and his faithful heart, would have asked for no 
greater blessing than to have had one home-queen, one love, one 
mother for his children; however, this was denied him, and God 
made the covetousness of Laban and the envy of Rachel to redound 
to His own honor and glory. But Jacob never made any secret of 
the fact that his heart was Rachel's; he always spoke of her as his 
wife, and accorded to her the first honor everywhere. Back of his 
extreme love and partiality for Joseph and Benjamin was the fact 
that they were Rachel's children, the offspring of the one supreme 
human love of his life, and these children, born in this true wedlock, 
were of more spiritual and beautiful natures. 

"And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower 
of Edar. 

"And thou, O tower of Edar, the stronghold of the daughter of 
Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the king- 
dom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem." 

It happened at this place that Reuben, Jacob's oldest son, now 



148 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

about twenty-three years old, disgraced himself with his father's 
concubine, Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. It was because of this 
that Jacob, on his death-bed, said of Reuben: "Unstable as water, 
thou shalt not excel." 

"And his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph. . . . 
And the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright." 

After an absence of thirty years, Jacob came to his father at 
Mamre, eleven miles north of the old homestead, Beer-sheba. I 
have no doubt that the old home, where Isaac was born and had 
lived almost his whole life, became too lonely after Rebekah's 
death and was probably broken up, for you remember that De- 
borah, Rebekah's old nurse, had also left it. 

Think what an eventful home it had been; there Isaac's father, 
Abraham, had lived for seventy-five years, there his two boys were 
born, and his wife and his father had died. Jacob had lived there 
seventy-six years and Esau a hundred; in sight of the groves and 
the wells and the altar. 

To Isaac all these familiar objects were thronging with precious 
memories. 

What wonder, then, that after Esau had moved to Mount Seir 
to make room for his brother Jacob, Isaac's soul longed for the 
heights of Mamre, and the fresh breath of the sea. 

It was a great day in the life of Isaac when Jacob and Leah and 
his twelve grandsons arrived at Mamre, with all their flocks and 
herds, and men servants and maid servants, and camels and asses. 

Truly the God of his father had been faithful; to Isaac it was 
granted to see verified the beginning of the fulfillment of the oft- 
repeated promise. "And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after 
thee, the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession; and I will 
be their God." 

It is pleasant to know that Isaac lived thirteen years after this 
great day of the home-coming. That he felt the chubby fingers of 
Rachel's baby Benjamin upon his dim old eyes, and that the hearty 
voices and cheerful presence of his stalwart grandsons brought 
strength and cheer to his closing years. 

After their arrival at Mamre, and while in the vale of Hebron, 




JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BRETHREN. 



THE HOME OF THE SHEPHERD. 151 

two or three circumstances occurred which give us a great insight 
into the character of Joseph, and the family life of Jacob and his 
sons. 

At one time Joseph, feeding the flock with four of his brothers, 
Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher, "brought unto his father their evil 
report." This is the only thing which we ever hear against Joseph. 
I have no doubt that it was right that his father should know what 
his boys were doing, still none of us likes tale-bearing, and of course 
this, incensed his brothers against him. "Now Jacob loved Joseph 
more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age." 
This partiality was wrong, and when it became so marked that 
Joseph was the recipient of a coat of many colors as a token of this 
preference, his brothers "hated him and could not speak peaceably 
unto him." 

Xow T we all know how dreadful it is for any discord to creep 
into the home, and how easy it is to increase it, so it was in this 
case; the brothers were banded together against Joseph, and dis- 
torted every action into a cause of offense. 

He dreamed that they were binding sheaves in the field, and 
his sheaf stood upright, and the sheaves of his brothers stood 
around and made obeisance to his sheaf. And when he told this 
dream to his brethren, "they hated him yet the more for his 
dream." 

And they said, "Shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?" As 
you think of this dream, remember Isaac's blessing to Jacob, "Be 
lord over thy brethren and let thy mother's sons bow down to 
thee." 

After this he dreamed again and told it to his father and to his 
brethren. It is probable that these dreams made such a strong 
impression upon Joseph that he could not refrain from telling 
them. 

"Behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made 
abeisance to me . . . and his father rebuked him and said 
unto him, <T\ nat is this dream?' . . . 'Shall I and thy mother 
and thy brethren indeed come to bow T down ourselves to thee to 



152 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

the earth.?' And his brethren envied him, but his father observed 
the saying.'' 

This reminds us how Mary the mother of Jesus "kept these 
things, and pondered them in her heart." 

Now, long after this, Joseph's brethren went back to Shechem 
to feed their father's flock; and as they were gone some time, Jacob 
began to get anxious about them, and said to Joseph, Come and 
I will send thee unto them to see if all be well with them and with 
the flocks. Now this was a long, toilsome journey for a boy of 
seventeen years to make alone. Yet Joseph, in his respectful way, 
said "Here am I." So Jacob "sent him out of the vale of Hebron 
and he came to Shechem," their old home. 

Here Joseph wandered around in the fields in search of his 
brothers until he was met by some man who asked him what he 
was seeking. 

And when Joseph told him that he sought his brothers and 
their flock, the man told him that he had overheard them say that 
they were going to Dothan. Now Joseph had already journeyed 
over sixty miles and was weary and footsore, but instead of giving 
up the search and going home to his father, he plodded on to 
Dothan, a good ten miles further north. 

And as his brothers were in the field with their flock, they lifted 
up their eyes and saw Joseph in his bright coat coining toward 
them, and they said in mocking tones, "Behold this dreamer 
cometh." 

"Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into 
some pit, and we will say 'Some evil beast hath devoured him; and 
we shall see what will become of his dreams." 

But Reuben, the oldest son, heard them and said, Let us not 
kill him, but cast him into this pit in the wilderness, for he 
thought only of saving him from their malice, "to deliver him to 
his father again." 

As soon as Joseph was come up to them, they stript him of his 
beautiful coat and cast him into an empty cistern. And without a 
thought of pity for the tired boy, they sat down to eat their lunch. 

"Woe to them that are at ease in Zion . . . That drink 



THE HOME OF TEE SHEPHERD. 155 

wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, but 
they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph." 

It seems that Reuben must have gone to another part of the 
field, for he appears to have been ignorant of the following cir- 
cumstance. While they were eating "Behold a company of Ish- 
maelites from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm 
and myrrh, going to carry it down into Egypt." 

And Judah said, "Come, let us sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites 
and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our 
flesh. And his brethren were content." 

Then, as the merchant men passed by, "they lifted Joseph out 
of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of sil- 
ver." How like to the betrayal of Jesus. 

Judas Iscariot "said unto them, what will ye give me and I will 
deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty 
pieces of silver." 

Shortly after this Reuben, returning by way of the pit, thought 
to deliver Joseph, but, behold, he was not there; "And he rent his 
clothes. And he returned unto his brethren and said, 'The child is 
not; and I, whither shall I go?' " 

Then they took pains to cover up their evil doing, by dipping 
the manv colored coat in the blood of a kid. And thev brought it 
to their father. They took care, however, not to say what had hap- 
pened. They waited for their father to form his own conclusions. 

And when they said, "This have we found; know now whether 
it be thy son's coat or no?" Jacob immediately fell into the trap 
which they had prepared for him. He said, "It is my son's coat; an 
evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in 
pieces." 

And Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins 
and mourned for his son many days. 

And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; 
but he refused to be comforted; and he said, 'For I will go down 
unto the grave unto my son mourning.' Thus his father wept for 
him." 

"A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping. 



156 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted . . .. 
because they were not." 

It seems hardly possible that these sons who truly loved their 
father, and their old grandfather, Isaac, who was still living, could 
have brought such grief as this upon them; and all through envy. 
a And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; but 
God was with him." 

It was this same year that Judah, Jacob's fourth son, was mar- 
ried to Shuah, a Canaanite. 

In process of time this wife bore him three sons, and then she 
died. 

Two of these sons were wicked and the Lord slew them. 

Afterward Tamar bore twin sons to Judah, whose names were 
Pharez and Zareh. 

This little account of Judah seems inopportune, until we re- 
member that it was through Pharez, one of these sons of Judah, 
that God's promise to Abraham was fulfilled. "In thee shall all 
the families of the earth be blessed." 

As we think of this, we also understand Jacob's deathbed bless- 
ing to Judah. 

"The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from 
between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gather- 
ing of the people be." 

And now about twelve years after Joseph was so cruelly taken 
from his father occurs the death of Isaac, at the extreme age of 
one hundred and eighty years. 

At Mamre, near Hebron, in sight of the blue waves of the Medi- 
terranean, "Isaac gave up the ghost and died, and was gathered 
unto his people, being old and full of days; and his sons Esau and 
Jacob buried him." 

Gentle, home-loving and home-abiding Isaac was the only one 
of the patriarchs who was born, lived his whole life and died in 
Canaan. 



Zhe Ibome in Bo^pt. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

tlfye Borne in (Egypt. 

VE WILL now turn back about twelve years to Joseph, whom 
we left in the hands of the merchant men. They were Ish- 
maelites, who were really related to Joseph, being, like 
himself, descended from faithful Abraham. 

Yet they knew him not, and cared not to know one whom they 
had bought for the small sum of fifteen dollars. 

As King David tells us, years afterward, "Goa sent a man be- 
fore them (the wicked brothers), even Joseph who was sold for a 
servant." 

As the caravan went southward it must have passed not far 
from Joseph's home — Hebron — and, although his heart yearned 
for the dear father and grandfather and baby brother, who were 
sheltered there, yet he was in custody, and could not make himself 
known to them. 

So they traveled on, leaving in the dim distance his boyhood's 
days of freedom, and the shelter of that home which was never his 
again. And the land of Canaan was to this heir of the promises 
forever afterward as a strange country. 

I have no doubt that when Joseph recovered from his first grief 
and terror, there were many things to interest this lad of seventeen 
years. 

The merchants would, of course, treat him kindly, for he was 
a beautiful boy, and it would suit their purpose much better to 
have him well and happy. 

After a long journey of about three hundred miles from Dothan 
to beautiful Memphis, the city of the Pharaohs in Egypt, Joseph 
was sold to Potiphar, an officer of the king, and marshal of the 
guard. 

You see Potiphar was really like our chief of police, and he 
was a rich and influential man. 

159 




160 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

"And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous 
man." 

As it was with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so it was now with 
Joseph, who is, as you will see, the heir to the birthright, with this 
exception, that it was not through Joseph "that all the families of 
the earth were blessed/' for Christ came of the tribe of Judah. 

Now, as Joseph served his master day by day, "he found grace 
in Potiphar's eyes, and he made him overseer of all that he had 
in the house and in the field. And the Lord blessed the Egyptian 
for Joseph's sake." 

His master had such confidence in him that he trusted every- 
thing into Joseph's hands, but he did not long enjoy this honor, 
for Potiphar's wife brought a false charge against Joseph, and as 
he could not prove his innocence, his master put him into a prison, 
which was in his own white castle or citadel, where all the king's 
prisoners were bound. 

"For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God 
endure grief, suffering wrongfully." 

But even in the prison "the Lord was with Joseph," and ex- 
tended kindness toward him. 

"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil, he that 
keepeth His way preserveth his soul." In time all the prisoners 
were committed to Joseph's care, and he was made responsible 
for all that went on in the prison. 

And the keeper of the prison trusted him, for the Lord made 
that which he did to prosper. Now, while Joseph was in charge 
of the prison, the king's butler and baker offended him, and he 
cast them both into this same prison with Joseph, who was given 
the special care of them by Potiphar, who, you see, still trusted 
Joseph. 

After they had been there a short time, one night each of them 
had a dream. Now, in Egypt great importance is attached to 
dreams, and when Joseph saw them in the morning, they were 
feeling particularly sad, because they could not consult a priest 
to obtain the interpretation. 



THE HOME IN EGYPT. 161 

They must have been surprised when Joseph said to them, "Do 
not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you." 

And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph. "Behold a vine 
was before me; and in the vine were three branches; and it was as 
though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters 
thereof brought forth ripe grapes; and Pharaoh's cup was in my 
hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, 
and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." 

Joseph told him that in three days Pharaoh would restore him 
to his position as butler, and Joseph added these words to the in- 
terpretation, "But think on me when it shall be well with thee. . . . 
and make mention of me unto Pharaoh . . . for indeed I was stolen 
away out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also I have done 
nothing that they should put me into the dungeon." 

You see how careful Joseph was not to bring any reproach 
upon his brethren, and how well it was that he did nothing to turn 
Pharaoh against them. 

Now it was the baker's turn, and he, being rejoiced at the 
good news which came to the butler, hastened to tell his own 
dream, as follows: "Behold, I had three white baskets on my 
head; and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of 
bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the 
basket upon my head." 

And Joseph said, "In three days Pharaoh shall hang thee on a 
tree, and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee." 

On Pharaoh's birthday, the third day from this, the butler 
was restored, and the baker hanged, just as Joseph had said. Yet, 
for a time, Joseph seemed to be like the poor wise man of whom 
Solomon speaks. "Who by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no 
man remembered that same poor man." 

Tavo years after this, Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by a river, 
and there came up out of it seven fat, healthy cows and fed in a 
meadow. And soon after seven lean ill-favored cows came up 
and stood by them on the brink of the river, and ate them up. 
So Pharaoh awoke, and he slept and dreamed again; and behold, 
seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. And 



162 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

behold, seven thin ears, and blasted with the east wind, sprung 
up after them. 

"And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full 
ears." 

Now these dreams troubled the king greatly, and he sent for 
the magicians and wise men, but none of them could interpret 
them. 

Then the chief butler remembered Joseph, and told the king all 
things that he had done for him. 

So Joseph was called, "and they brought him hastily out of 
the dungeon; and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, 
and came in unto Pharaoh." 

"He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beg- 
gar out of the dunghill, to set them among princes and to make 
them inherit the throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are 
the Lord's and he hath set the world upon them." 

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and 
I understand that when thou nearest a dream thou canst interpret 
it." And Joseph said, "It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an 
answer of peace. 

"But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wis- 
dom that I have more than any living, but that the interpretation 
may be made known to the king. 

"He revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is 
in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him." 

After Pharaoh had told his dreams Joseph said, The two 
dreams are one. "Behold, there come seven years of great plenty 
throughout all the land of Egypt; and there shall arise after them 
seven years of famine . . . and the plenty shall not be known in 
the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very 
grievous. . . . And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh 
twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will 
shortly bring it to pass." 

"What God is about to do he sheweth to Pharaoh." Then Jo- 
seph advised Pharaoh to appoint a man of discretion over the land, 




JOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH'S DREAMS. 



THE HOME IN EGYPT. 165 

and to store up a fifth part of the food of the seven plenteous 
years "against the seven years of famine." 

And Pharaoh appointed Joseph himself, for he perceived that 
the spirit of God was in him. These words of the king's seem to 
indicate that he was a believer in the true God; this is also 
strengthened by the just life of this Pharaoh. 

The knowledge of the true God may have come to him through 
Abraham, who we remember spent several years in Egypt. 

So God delivered Joseph out of all his afflictions, and gave 
him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; 
and he made him governor over Egypt and over all his house. 
Pharaoh conferred upon Joseph every honor; he placed his own 
ring upon Joseph's hand and arrayed him in silk vestures, and put 
a gold chain about his neck. 

When the king went out Joseph rode in the second chariot, 
and all the people cried before him, "Bow the knee." Only in the 
throne was Pharaoh greater than Joseph. 

This experience of Joseph's was wonderfully like unto Dan- 
iel's. "Daniel was preferred above presidents and princes, be- 
cause an excellent spirit was found in him, and the king thought to 
set him over the whole realm." Yet neither of these young men 
ever failed to give the glory to God. Joseph said, "God shall give 
Pharaoh an answer of peace." And Daniel said, "I thank thee and 
praise thee, O thou God of my fathers . . . for thou hast now 
made known to us the king's matters." 

"Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, 
king of Egypt." And Pharaoh called him Zaphnath-Paaneah — 
that is, a revealer of secrets. And Joseph married Asenath, the 
daughter of the Prince of On. This was the hour of Joseph's 
temptation; so young to be raised to such a height of glory and 
power; for the king had said, "I am Pharaoh, and without thee 
shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." 

But all this did not harm Joseph in the least; he went sys- 
tematically to work, gathering up the corn, which was as the sand 
of the sea, and storing it in the cities, for the years of famine 
which were before them. 



166 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

When his first-born son was laid in his arms he called him 
Manasseh — Forgetting — "For God said he hath made me forget 
all my toil, and all my father's house." His second son he called 
Ephraim — Fruitful — "For God hath caused me to be fruitful in 
the land of my affliction." "Joseph is a fruitful bough; even a 
fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall." 

Joseph's faith in God is shown forth in every circumstance of 
his life; neither prosperity nor affliction could weaken it. 

Now the seven years of plenty were ended and the famine be- 
gan to come upon the land, as Joseph had said, and the people be- 
gan to cry to Pharaoh for bread. Then the king sent them to Jo- 
seph, saying, "What he saith to you, do." 

Now you will get a better idea of Joseph's wonderful execu- 
tive ability by knowing that he had arranged his storehouses in 
the cities, along both banks of the Nile, which formed the public 
highway of the kingdom. And Joseph sold the food to the people 
himself, traveling from one storehouse to the next, keeping them 
open in rotation. 

"And the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all 
countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn." 

And there Jacob sent his ten sons for that same purpose, that, 
as he said, they might "live and not die;" but Benjamin he kept at 
home, "lest peradventure mischief befall him." 

The brothers had not forgotten that the Ishmaelites, who 
bought Joseph, were going down into Egypt, so that they had a 
dread of that place, and heartily wished that there was anywhere 
else that they might go to buy food. 

"And Joseph was the governor over all the land, and he it was 
that sold to all the people." 

And as his "brethren came and bowed down themselves before 
him, with their faces to the earth," Joseph knew them, and remem- 
bered his dreams. 

And he spoke roughly to them, and accused them of being 
spies. 

This they denied, saying, "Thy servants are twelve brethren 




JACOB'S SONS IMPRISONED BY JOSEPH AS SPIES. 



THE HOME IN EGYPT. 169 

. . . and, behold, the youngest is this day with his father and 
one is not." 

We cannot but admire this beautiful custom of counting the 
dead always with the living — still twelve brothers — though one 
was not. 

Now Joseph, still disguising himself, pretends to doubt them, 
and says, "Hereby ye shall be proved; By the life of Pharaoh ye 
shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hith- 
er." 

Joseph was determined to know if his brothers were still the 
same cruel-hearted men that he had known; so he tells them that 
he will send one of them to fetch their brother, and they shall be 
kept in prison until their words are proved. 

After saying this, "He put them all together into ward for 
three davs." 

And the third day Joseph said, "This do and live, for I fear 
God. . . . Let one of your brethren be bound . . . and go ye and 
carry corn for the famine of your houses; but bring your youngest 
brother unto me." Xow it seems that the Spirit of God had been 
at work in their hearts all these years, for, as soon as this trouble 
came upon them, they were overwhelmed with remorse, and con- 
fessed their guilt one to another. 

"We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw 
the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not 
hear; therefore, is this distress come upon us." "Whoso stoppeth 
his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall 
not be heard." 

In this case Eeuben was the fortunate one, for he could 
truthfully say, "Spake I not unto you, saying, do not sin against 
the child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his 
blood is required." How beautiful to see the hand of God in our 
afflictions. 

As Joseph spoke to them by an interpreter, they did not know 
that he could understand them, but he was so much moved, at what 
they said, that he turned away and wept. 

Then he took Simeon from them and bound him before their 



170 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

eyes. It may have been that he remembered something of Sime- 
on's cruel nature, and thought that he needed the lesson as well as 
they. 

Then Joseph gave orders that their sacks should be filled with 
corn, and every man's money be returned to his sack; and after 
they were given provisions for the way, they laded their asses 
and departed. 

But their hearts failed them when one of them, at the inn, 
opened his sack to give his ass provender, and espied his money, 
and, when each one found his money restored, they were still more 
afraid, and said, "What is this that God hath done unto us?" 

You may imagine how Jacob was distressed when they told 
him all this, and he saw that Simeon was not with them. 

He said, "Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take 
Benjamin away; all these things are against me." 

And Reuben said, "Slay my two sons if I bring him not to thee; 
deliver him unto my hand and I will bring him to thee again." 

But Jacob persisted that Benjamin should not go down, say- 
ing, "He is all I have left of his mother, and if anything happens 
to him, Then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to. 
the grave.' " 

O how they dreaded to see their store of corn growing smaller, 
and yet, even had they an abundance of corn, how could they 
leave Simeon in bondage? They were sorely perplexed, yet they 
waited until their father said, "Go again; buy us a little corn," be- 
fore they broached the subject which was uppermost in their 
minds. 

Then Judah said, It will be useless for us to go down without 
Benjamin, for the man said unto us, most solemnly, that we 
should not see his face again unless our youngest brother was 
with us. 

"Send the lad with me ... I will be surety for him; if I 
bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear 
the blame forever." 

And Jacob unwillingly consented, and he sent a present to 
this harsh man; the best fruits of the land, with a little honey; 



THE HOME IN EGYPT. 171 

also balm, spices, myrrh, nuts and almonds, besides the money 
they had found in their sacks. "And God Almighty give you mercy 
before the man, that he may send your other brother and Benja- 
min. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." 

Now when Joseph saw Benjamin with them he was greatly 
pleased, and commanded the steward of his house to bring the men 
to his home, for they should dine with him at noon. 

The brothers were afraid when they were brought to Joseph's 
house, thinking it was because of the money they had found in 
their sacks, but, as they spoke to the steward at the door of this, 
he reassured them; telling them that "their God and the God of 
their father had given them treasure in their sacks, for he had 
their money." 

I have no doubt that they were somewhat overawed at the 
magnificence of Joseph's home, the home of the man who was as 
great as Pharaoh everywhere, save in the throne. They were met 
at the door, where water was given them to wash their feet. Their 
asses also were given provender; and they made ready their pres- 
ent. 

At noon, when Joseph came, he invited them into the house, 
and received their present from them, saying, "Is your father well? 
— the old man of whom ye spake." And as they answered they 
bowed down their heads and made obeisance. 

"And he lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his mother's 
son, and said, Is this your younger brother of whom ye spake 
unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son." And 
he went into his chamber and wept there, for his soul yearned 
over the dear boy whom he had last seen as a toddling baby. The 
feast was spread in the beautiful dining room, with its gay color- 
ing and costly furniture. There were many slaves in attendance, 
and the air was heavy with the perfume of the roses and the lotus 
flowers. 

Every delicacy was handed them, and the musicians made 
sweet music upon their harps and small drums. But none of this 
caused the brothers so much wonder, as the fact that when they 



172 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

were seated at the table, they found themselves arranged accord- 
ing to their ages. 

Joseph being so mighty in the land, ate alone, and the Egyp- 
tians had a separate table, as they never ate with foreigners. 

While the feast was in progress, Joseph sent portions from 
his table to his brothers, but he always sent five times as much to 
Benjamin. 

"And they drank with him and were merry." And they spent 
that night in Joseph's home, and early in the morning, at the 
break of day, Joseph sent them to their father with light hearts 
and plenty of corn for their families in Canaan. And best of all, 
Simeon was with them. But, alas, they had not gone far when 
Joseph's steward overtook them, and said, "Wherefore have ye 
rewarded evil for good, in thus stealing my lord's silver cup?" 

This they indignantly denied, saying, "With whomsoever of thy 
servants it be found, both let him die, and we will also be my 
lord's bondsmen." 

But the steward said the innocent should not suffer with the 
guilty, only the one with whom it was found should be his ser- 
vant. So they speedily unloaded their asses, and each one of them 
opened his sack, ready for the search. 

The steward began with Reuben's, and, as the search pro- 
gressed and nothing was found, their hearts grew light with con- 
scious innocence. 

The last sack was almost empty when lo, the beautiful, costly 
cup was discovered, aud in Benjamin's sack. 

"And they rent their clothes and laded every man his ass, and 
returned to the city." There was no thought now of deserting the 
baby brother; every man among them would be sacrificed, rather 
than go home to their father without Benjamin. It was to learn 
this that Joseph was submitting them to such a trial. 

They went straight to Joseph's home, for he was still there; the 
home which they had left so short a time before in such gay spir- 
its, "and they fell before him on the ground." 

"And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have 
done? W T ot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?" 



THE HOME IN EGYPT. 173 

And Judah became spokesman for his brothers, and said, 
"What shall we say unto my lord? ... or how shall we clear 
ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants; be- 
hold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom 
the cup is found ?" 

And Joseph said, "God forbid that I should do so; but the 
man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant." 

"He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the 
just, even they both are abomination to the Lord." 

"And as for you, get you up in peace unto your father." 

Then cruel Judah, who in time past had been so ready to barter 
away that innocent brother; guilty Judah, whose two sons had 
been so wicked that the Lord slew them; licentious Judah came 
forth from this trying ordeal, "A man whom his brethren should 
praise." He it was, who came near to Joseph, and made this fol- 
lowing most touching plea, which for manly simplicity, filial love 
and generosity is unequaled in history: "Oh my lord, let thy ser- 
vant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not 
thine answer burn against thv servant; for thou art even as 
Pharaoh. 

My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have ye a father, or a 
brother?' 

And we said unto my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and 
a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he 
alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.' And thou 
saidst unto thy servants, 'Bring him down unto me, that I may 
set mine eyes upon him.' 

And we said unto my lord, 'The lad cannot leave his father; 
for if he should leave his father, his father would die.' 

And thou saidst unto thy servants, 'Except your youngest 
brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.' And 
it came to pass when we came up to thy servant, my father, we 
told him the words of my lord. 

And our father said, 'Go again, and buy us a little food.' And 
we said, 'W T e cannot go down; if our youngest brother be with us, 



174 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

then will we go down; for we may not see the man's face, except 
our youngest brother be with us,' 

And thy servant, my father, said unto us, 'Ye know that my 
wife bare me two sons; and the one went out from me and I said, 
Surely he is torn to pieces; and I saw him not since. 

And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye 
shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.' 

Now, therefore when I come to thy servant, my father, and 
the lad be not with us; seeing that his lift is bound up in the lad's 
life; it shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with 
us, that he will die; and thy servants shall bring down the gray 
hairs of thy servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. For 
thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, 'If 
I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my 
father forever.' 

Now, therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of 
the lad, a bondsman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his 
brethren. 

For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with 
me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come upon my fa- 
ther." 

This speech of Judah's, which proved him so greatly changed, 
moved Joseph to tears, so that he sent every one from the room 
while he made himself known to his brethren. And he wept so 
loud that the house of Pharaoh heard him. 

And when he said, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold 
into Egypt," his brothers were greatly terrified. He did his best 
to comfort them, telling them that God had sent him thither to 
preserve life. But it was a long time before they could realize the 
truth, and feel at ease with this great man. As he talked so kindly 
to them, he told them how he longed to see his father, and what 
plans he had made for them all. He told them he intended to 
bring them all down to Egypt, and that he had already selected 
their future home. As they gradually drew near to him, he called 
their attention to his looks, as though there was some striking 
likeness between him and his brother Benjamin; probably they 



. 



• ■■ 




JOSEPH BECOMING KNOWN TO HIS BRETHREN. 



THE HOME IN EGYPT. 177 

both resembled their mother; it was natural that Benjamin should 
be attracted to him first. No doubt his heart went out to this 
handsome, kindly man, who had spoken so tenderly to him, and 
whom he had never wronged in any way. 

There was no constraint between them, and it was with un- 
feigned joy that they kissed each other and wept together, and 
talked of their old home and father. Then Joseph kissed his other 
brothers and wept over them, and they talked freely together. 
And he told them to tell his father of all his glory in Egypt. And 
good, kind Pharaoh and his servants were so pleased, when they 
heard of the arrival of Joseph's brethren, that Pharaoh invited 
them to make Egypt their home, and he said, "I will give thee the 
good of the land." 

So Joseph sent wagons and asses, laden with everything that 
they could need, to bring his father and his brothers, with their 
wives and little ones, unto him. 

He gave changes of raiment to all of his brethren, "but to Ben- 
jamin he gave five changes of raiment and three hundred pieces 
of silver." He gave them only one word of warning: "See that 
ye fall not out by the way." 

When they reached Canaan and told Jacob that Joseph was 
yet alive, and was governor over all the land of Egypt, he could 
not believe them. 

Then they told him all of Joseph's words, and how he looked 
and how he wept over them; and when he saw the wagons loaded 
with good things, also the money and the beautiful clothes, all 
evidences of wealth and power, the spirit of Jacob revived, and 
he said, "It is enough; Joseph, my son, is yet alive; I will go and 
see him before I die." 

It was a great undertaking for Jacob, now one hundred and 
thirty years of age, to leave Canaan, the land of promise, into 
which God had called him from Haran; so as he "took his journey 
with all that he had," he stopped at Beer-sheba, the old family 
homestead, where his grandfather, Abraham, had planted a grove, 
"and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God." 

Here God gave Jacob the assurance which he desired, saying, 



178 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

"Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a 
great nation; I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also 
surely bring thee np again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon 
thine eyes." 

He came up again in his posterity, and literally when his sons 
brought him up to bury him. As Jacob recalled the scenes of his 
childhood, and the way in which the Lord had led him and blessed 
him all his life long until now, his fears vanished and he continued 
his journey. 

And Jacob sent Judah before him unto Joseph, that he might 
direct them to Goshen, where they arrived, in safety, a family of 
about seventy persons. And Joseph went up to Goshen in his 
chariot to meet his father, "and he wept on his neck a good while." 
And Israel said unto Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen 
thy face." 

Now Goshen was a most suitable place for shepherds, being a 
delta between the Nile and the Mediterranean Sea. It was north- 
east, and on the opposite side of the river from Memphis, where 
Joseph lived. It was also nearer to their old home, as they could 
return to Canaan without crossing the great river. 

Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh that his father and breth- 
ren and their flocks and herds had come to live in Egypt. And he 
took five of his brethren and presented them unto Pharaoh, and 
when he asked them their occupation, they answered, as Joseph 
had instructed them, "Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle 
from our youth even until now, both we, and also our father." 

Pharaoh, in his usual kindly way, treated them with the great- 
est hospitality. 

He told them to dwell in the best of the land, in Goshen if 
they desired, and also offered to make any one of them, whom Jo- 
seph should appoint, his royal shepherd. 

Joseph was wise in selecting Goshen as their home, where they 
could live much separated from the wicked Egyptians, to whom 
shepherds were an abomination. 

Afterwards Joseph brought his father down to Memphis to see 
Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed him. "The Lord bless thee and keep 



THE HOME IN EGYPT. 179 

thee; the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto 
thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee 
peace." 

And Pharaoh treated Jacob with great respect and asked him 
his age, and Jacob answered, "The days of the years of my pilgrim- 
age are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil have the days 
of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days 
of the years of the life of my fathers." 

"Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trou- 
ble. 

"He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also 
as a shadow and continueth not." 

Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again and went out from before 
him. 

Thus Jacob and his sons were given a possession in the best 
of the land, in Rameses, or Goshen, as Pharaoh had commanded. 
And Joseph was much pleased to have them near him, and he 
nourished them in the best manner possible, doing everything he 
could for their comfort. Even as Pharaoh had promised, they ate 
"the fat of the land." 

Now the famine grew more burdensome each day, and Joseph 
worked diligently early and late, selling to the people from all 
lands the corn which he had gathered up. "And when money 
failed in the land of Egypt and Canaan, then Joseph gave them 
corn for their cattle, and when their cattle were all gone, Joseph 
sold them corn for their land, until he had bought 'All the land of 
Egypt for Pharaoh.' " Then he removed the people to the cities, 
so that they were scattered from one end of Egypt to the other, 
and were even as strangers in their own land. Joseph did this so, 
that in time to come, the people could not again claim the land 
which he had bought. 

This was how matters stood when the seven years of grievous 
famine were ended, and Joseph said, "Lo, here is seed for you and 
ye shall sow the land." 

"And they said, Thou hast saved our lives, let us find grace in 
the eyes of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants." 



180 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

But Joseph made it a law that only the fifth part of the in- 
crease should be given to Pharaoh; the remainder was to be re- 
turned for their own use. 

Now, as the years grew on apace, Israel had great possessions 
in the country of Goshen, and as the Lord had promised, "They 
grew and multiplied exceedingly." 

"And the time drew nigh that Israel must die — "Must go the 
way of all the earth." 

And he called Joseph unto him and made him swear that he 
would not bury him in Egypt. He desired to be buried in Canaan, 
as a token of his firm faith in the promise that his children should 
eventually possess the whole land. 

It was not long after this that word was sent to Joseph that 
his father was sick, and he immediately took his two sons and went 
up to Goshen. When Jacob heard that Joseph was coming, he 
strengthened himself and sat upon the bed, that he might talk 
with this dear son for the last time. 

He told Joseph of God's first appearance to him at Bethel, and 
of His promise to make him a multitude of people, and to give him 
Canaan for an everlasting possession. 

Then he adopted Joseph's two sons as his own, saying, "Even 
as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine." 

He also tells him of his mother's death, and desired him to 
bring his two sons near that he may bless them. "By faith Jacob, 
when he was a-dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph." And he 
placed his right hand upon the head of the younger, Ephraim, and 
his left hand upon the head of Manasseh, "And he blessed Joseph, 
and said, God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, did 
walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the 
angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my 
name be named on them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham 
and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the 
earth." 

And Joseph said, "Not so, my father, for this is the first born; 
put thy right hand upon his head," but Jacob refused, saying, "I 
know it, my son, I know it;" he shall also become a people, and he 




JACOB BLESSING THE SONS OF JOSEPH. 



THE HOME IN EGYPT. 183 

also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater 
than he." ... In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee 
as Ephraim and Manasseh." 

When Moses blessed the tribes of Israel years after this, he said, 
"They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thou- 
sands of Manasseh." Joshua descended from Ephraim, as did also 
Jeroboam. 

Jacob said to Joseph, I die; but God shall be with you, and 
bring you again into Canaan. 

Then he told him that he had given him one portion above his 
brethren; this was the ground which Jacob bought of the sons of 
Hamor, which "became the inheritance of the children of Joseph." 
Jacob also gave to him a portion above his brethren which he took 
with his sword and his bow out of the hands of the Amorites. 

Thus it was that, "although Judah prevailed above his breth- 
ren and of him came the chief ruler, the birthright was Joseph's." 

"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, gather yourselves to- 
gether, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last 
days." 

Then, with great dignity and beauty of words, Jacob blessed his 
twelve sons according to what they had done, or what God per- 
mitted him to see that they should do. 

"Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the begin- 
ning of my strength, . . . thou shalt not excel." An inher- 
itance lost through sin. 

To Simeon and Levi, because of their cruelty at Sheehem, Jacob 
said, "I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." 
Simeon had his inheritance within that of Judah, which limitation 
was in part offset by the heritage of the beautiful and historic fam- 
ily homestead of Beer-sheba. 

The children of Levi, being the priesthood, were scattered in 
Israel; they had cities among all the twelve tribes. 

The blessing conferred upon Judah is especially beautiful and 
appropriate, a wonderful prophecy of Christ's coining. 

Judah means praise; it was to this that Jacob referred when he 
said: "Thou art He whom thy brethren shall praise." 



184 BIBLE HOMES AND FAMILIES. 

He also foretells of the ascendency of the tribe of Jndah over 
the Canaanites, and over all the tribes of Israel. 

The whole race were eventually named from Judah — Jews. 

Of Leah's son, Zebulum, Jacob said: He "shall dwell at the 
haven of the sea." 

It was over four hundred years before the children of Zeb- 
ulum came into their inheritance: their beautiful home — Zidon 
^on the shores of the marvelous Mediterranean. Yet, in God's 
own good time, He brought them to that haven by the sea; and I 
cannot but wonder if, in that day, they remembered Jacob's bless- 
ing to their forefather Zebulum, and gave God the praise. 

And of Joseph he says : "The archers have sorely grieved him, 
and hated him, and shot at him; but his bow abode in strength, and 
the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty 
God of Jacob (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.)" 

When I think of Jacob's blessing to Benjamin, as enlarged upon 
by Moses, standing in sight of both Canaans, I believe it was given 
to him to look across the centuries, from this Benjamin to his most 
illustrious descendant; our well-beloved brother Paul of the tribe 
of Benjamin. Can you think of any other to whom these words 
so fittingly apply? "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety 
by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall 
dwell between His shoulders." 

And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he 
died, "And was gathered unto his people." 

"And Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him 
and kissed him." 

And his servants, the physicians, embalmed his father. 

And they mourned for him seventy days, after which a very 
great company, with chariots and horsemen, when up with his sons 
to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah, in Hebron. 

When they returned into Egypt, Joseph's brethren feared, now 
that their father was dead, that Joseph would requite them for all 
the evil which they had done unto him. 

So they sent a messenger to him and begged his pardon, and 
said that his father had told them before he died to confess their 



TEE HOME IN EGYPT. 185 

sin to him. And Joseph was greatly grieved that they should have 
such doubts of his love for them, and said, "Fear not, for am I in 
the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me but 
God meant it unto good. . . . And he comforteth them and 
spake kindly unto them." 

And Joseph was rich and prosperous, and lived to see his great- 
grandchildren upon his knees. 

Joseph's life was much shorter than his ancestors, for he lived 
to be only one hundred and ten years old. 

Before he died he told his brothers that God would surely 
bring them to Canaan. And he made them promise that when that 
day should come, they would carry up his bones with them from 
Egypt. "And they embalmed him and put him in a coffin." 

Surely the blessing of his father had prevailed "unto the ut- 
termost bound of the everlasting hills; they were on the head of 
Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate 
from his brethren." 

Thank God that as we close our study of this wonderful Genesis, 
we can say, "These all died in faith, not having received the prom- 
ises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, 
and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and 
pilgrims on the earth." 

(£nb of $\tst Series. 



17 1900 




> 



